


From this small place at the edge of my world, to yours

by Red_Lion



Category: Original Work
Genre: Conlang, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I’m too shy to ask my friends to beta read this, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29443590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Lion/pseuds/Red_Lion
Summary: When I was born, there was nothing. Not in a disheartening sense, no, there was comfort to the nothingness. “Nothing”, in the sense, meant a calm, peaceful kind of quiet which I have long since forgotten. I have forgotten the feel of nothing, the touch of nothing, the sights and sounds of the ever-calm. Before there were days to measure my life by, I was not sure that I lived, though I have a memory. I remember the touch of my parent, the touch of love. In the nothingness, in this primordial blackness, there was my parent, Love. Love is a realm, not full of life but full of its namesake. I am its child and gift to the nothingness. What had come before love? I cannot remember, and Love cannot speak.I promise it’s not all in first person pov[ratings/warnings will change as necessary]
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 3





	1. The Beginning of All Things, part 1

Darkness

  
  
  


When I was born, there was nothing. Not in a disheartening sense, no, there was comfort to the nothingness. “Nothing”, in the sense, meant a calm, peaceful kind of quiet which I have long since forgotten. I have forgotten the feel of nothing, the touch of nothing, the sights and sounds of the ever-calm. Before there were days to measure my life by, I was not sure that I lived, though I have a memory. I remember the touch of my parent, the touch of love. In the nothingness, in this primordial blackness, there was my parent, Love. Love is a realm, not full of life but full of its namesake. I am its child and gift to the nothingness. What had come before love? I cannot remember, and Love cannot speak. 

There also existed my twin, born of the realm Hatred as Love had created me. We are beings of life, yet we do not speak to each other. We have nothing to say. The need to speak did not exist yet, so there existed no words. We knew nothing, and as we were born we knew that we were doomed to do battle. As love opposes hatred, I oppose my twin. Love and Hatred do not live, but I do, as does my twin, and our lives were not given without reason. We were doomed to do battle, as the key to the nothingness is balance. It always has been, and it always shall be, and so we fought. 

There existed no days to measure our battle by, though it did not matter. Forever would our battle last. I had only known love before, but as I touched my twin I knew hatred as well.

Love holds one gently, whispering in the mind without a voice. It commands one’s own voice to whisper its message in every language at once, though it says no words. Love slows the body, dulls the mind, lulls it into a gentle rest. Serenity falls like a shroud upon the body, and love’s soft lullaby touches every jagged edge of my soul. 

Hatred does not sing. There is no voice to hatred. It shakes the mind, sending a shiver down the body which shakes me to my core. I am aware of every movement of my arm, every time my hands shake and tremble. It falls and shatters upon the serrations of my soul, and I know I am lucky that my soul is not so easily broken. 

My twin and I fought forever, and we felt nothing. There was no meaning to feel, no need for emotions, even anger. A battle such as ours only exists to exist. My life was one without purpose, and those without purpose deserve no feeling. 

One day, I desired for something more. A thought came to me, and it was unlike any thought I have ever had before. It was not a thought of Love, nor was it a thought of Hatred. It was a thought of my own, and then I decided that I needed a name. If I was to have my own thoughts, I should have a name to call them by. My name is Darkness. It has been from that moment. 

And then I, Darkness, thought to myself, with my own thoughts. My first thought was nothing more than a feeling. It was not love, nor was it hatred. I had thought of a place. I could not tell where it was, nor what was there, nor how I felt while I envisioned that place in my mind. I could tell only that it existed, and I had created it myself. 

I continued to think. My thoughts branched out from my first thought and again from those thoughts, and then I desired more than simply to think. I wanted to create, so I did. By my own power I broke free from my battle and escaped the nothingness that I had called home yesterday, for there were now days to measure my life by. I had decided it so. Yesterday had been my battle with my twin, and today I was free. Today I existed by myself, in this new realm, without Hatred and without Love save for the parts that lived on within myself. I am Darkness. This is my home. 

As my twin had opposed me, I must now oppose somebody in my new home. This realm is nothing like the nothingness. Here, there is light, and I look upon my own body for the first time. I have hands and feet, and my skin is pale. I have two arms and two legs, and I cannot see my own face but I know that it is there. I can feel my face with my hands; I have two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and ears. I am a man. I have decided it so. I have hair, too. It is long enough that I can see it when I look. My hair is black and very long. 

I have a twin here, as well. I know that I created him, yet I am not his parent. Everything in this realm is a result of my action, my thought. He is a dark-skinned man and his hair is short and light. He looks like me, because he, too, is a man. I have decided that is what we are. 

“Who are you?” He asks me, the first words ever spoken from one man to another. There is a reason, now, to speak. There are reasons to have words and to string them together. There is a reason to talk, now, because there are things to talk about. 

“I am Darkness.” I say. 

He looks at his hands, and experimentally touches his face as I had. 

He is Light, for that is the only other thing in my realm. 

There is a glow behind Light, from some far corner of my infinite realm. I look behind myself, and I can see a similar glow, though mine is not of light. It is a complete voidness of light, blacker than the home I had known yesterday. There had been no light there either, for my twin had not been Light. I wonder what my twin could have looked like. Perhaps it had been a man, like me. No. Men have thoughts, and men act upon their thoughts. My twin had been a demon, born of Hatred which has no thoughts. 

Light extends his palm, and light begins to dance across his fingers. I watch, but do not do the same. 

Now, there is somebody new with us. Light has created, and thus a being of creation must exist. The being of creation is not a man, like Light and I. She is a woman, and she is very beautiful. She is Creation. She has very long hair, like me, but hers is blue. We are both short in stature compared to Light, but I have nothing to do with her. She was born of Light’s actions, and I am no longer the sole creator of all things in my realm. We are the creators of all things. We are the gods of this realm. 

As there is Creation, there is also Destruction. His birth was the work of Creation, and he is also a god of our empty realm. 

Our realm, however, no longer needs to be empty. I have not stopped thinking about the place. It does not feel like a place that could exist within the nothingness. Now that I have seen light, I see that there is light in my place. There are other things, as well, things that have yet to be created. I cannot see those things yet, but I wish them to exist. No longer can I create on my own, as I am no longer the sole being of this place. There are others here, others with voices and with desires. They, too, wish to create, so I tell them about my place. 

“But you do not know what is there.” Destruction says. “How can it exist?”

“I do not know a great many things.” I admit freely to such ignorance, for living is new to us all, and it would be foolish to claim that I knew everything that could be. “Only that it can be. We are the gods of this realm, we have the power to make it so.” 

In that moment, we decide to create. Too long had we been alone in a realm with endless possibility and power sitting idly in our hands. From the realm we brought forth a universe. It was the duty of Creation to produce it but to do so she used our power as well. The moment she presented it, it could fit in the palm of a hand. She gave it to me, and I admired it so! A new feeling arose within me, and I named the feeling pride. This universe could not have existed yesterday, and today it exists all around us. From my palm it had grown, filling my realm, our realm.

As Creation had been born when the need for a being of creation had arisen, I watched similar miracles take place in our new universe. Five miracles, as the universe gathered and arranged itself under the domains of five forces. I watched the universe grow, as it never sat still. There was much more light now, spheres to gift light to the young celestial bodies who reflected it to form a pretty picture in the ubiquitous space. By the first of the great stars we met the being born of them, one to command not light, but the heat within them. He gave us his name, Coutaka. His body burned with heat as if he himself were a star. Though he appeared to be like Creation, he declared to us that he was a man as we are. Not a different kind of man, simply a man. So he was. 

As I had a twin, Coutaka had a twin. We find them at the far corner of our universe, where the warmth of no sun extends a hand. They sit in the darkness and the silence, for there is still no sound save for our voices. I go to them, where they sit alone in the cold. As I get closer, they look at me with sightless eyes and I ask for their name. They are Cir, and they command the barren cold.

We sit together there. There is not much here but the two of us. My mind begins to wander back to my former home, even as the wonders of my new universe stretch endlessly before me. Though the nothingness held no mysteries, I begin to ponder questions of my own. By what hand had Love and Hatred come to be? I have many questions, but I do not know the way home. Even if I did, there is nothing left for me there except another day of battle. 

It is no longer day in this realm. A day had started when I left the nothingness for a solitude of company. That day had been for us, the four major gods of this realm. Now, there are things in this universe we made, and the day of the gods has come to an end. Even so, the things in this universe do not move. They simply are. Their creation is not finished. It is nighttime now, between the days, and the next dawn will come once our creation has been completed. The next day will be the day of the universe. 

Within the universe we discovered many new things, each more unique than the next. I feel as if there are too many things to see. In my journeys throughout the universe I am made awefully aware that there are many more things than I could have ever thought of. There are clouds that glow in the light of suns and clouds which form suns, there are rocks which clash without order in the chaotic expanse of space, and so many more things which I cannot understand. 

Among the chaos I met its master. Their name is Truneau, a spirit of chaos and the turbulent universe. Light fears this chaos, but I choose to embrace it. It seems to make the universe move, and there is order among it. This chaos is not a thing to fear, it is a force of creation, and I often find myself sitting, for many hours of the night, to do nothing but watch. 

Often, as I watch, I venture to the surface of the lifeless stones. There is a god of these as well. His name is Saolir, and his domain is everything physical within the universe. He is not like the rest of us. His domain is something physical and real, which ends at the edge of my realm. There is also an art to it, and he spends his night upon the surface of his favoured stone, which he calls his planet. Upon his planet’s surface he creates, bending and building the stone until his planet is no longer a perfect sphere as the other planets are. His planet has valleys and mountains, and he has named them all. 

Saolir seldom leaves his planet, and neither does Linore. Linore’s element is a strange one, a kind of thing which I have never seen before. Her element flows across the surface of Saolir’s planet, cutting a pattern of its own into its surface. Where her element falls from high to low, it creates a sound. Her element is not alive, and it has no voice, but there is still a sound. I hear it wherever her element flows, and it fills my senses when I sit upon the planet’s surface. Now that I have heard this sound, the vast expanse of space feels more silent than ever. Upon this planet, there is the sound of Linore’s element, but in space I must speak, and more often than not I have nothing to say. 

Perhaps some time has passed, but it is still between days and very hard to tell. Saolir’s planet had introduced me to the idea that one had a place to return to, where the space was his own to live. Creation, too, had built such a place. It existed outside of the planets, for that is what I now call the stone spheres once they grow large enough. At first glance it was nothing more than a flat plane, shining white and suspended within space. The planets, I had noticed, spun about a star. This thing existed alone, unaffected by the unspoken rules which seemed to guide the rest of my universe. How intrigued I am by its mysteries! I hope that one day, I will know more things about this place that I have made. 

I meet Creation upon the surface of this place. One thing protrudes forth from its surface, a domed surface supported by pillars on the side which faced me. On its opposite side it is enclosed, so that one who stood on the other side may not see in. 

“This is my home.” Creation explains. 

“It’s lovely.” I say. There has not yet been a single thing which I have not admired. “Where did you get the idea?”

“It came to me in a thought.” She says. “I saw a pretty temple all in white, and so I created one for myself.” 

“A temple?” I challenge myself to use the unfamiliar word.

“A home for myself.” Home. Saolir might have used this word as well. “I would like to share it with you, and all the others.” Creation continues. “Let it be our home. I think it would be nice to have that.” 

“What, a temple?”

“A home.” 

Upon that place, we built a home. Though it was created, it was not solely the work of Creation. We built a home, which meant we all helped to build it. I do not think it was ever finished. There was always something new to add, something old to fix, and that was the beauty of it. I do not think it will ever be done. 

First we had constructed simple buildings, like the one Creation had made. Light, Creation, Destruction, and I created a sort of arrangement with ours so that a line drawn from one temple to the next would resemble a diamond’s shape. In the center, suspended in the air, was our light. It was not a star, it was simply light. 

“I went back to the far corner, where I had seen the light, where I had met you.” Light looks fondly upwards to the light. It appears to be a crystal and gave no heat, but there is enough light to provide for the entire expanse of the plain, which is no longer a singular flat plane. “I brought back some of it. Can you feel it? It feels different.” 

I am the only one with him, and I shake my head. 

“The light from the stars is chaotic.” Light frowns, and a crease forms between his eyebrows as he touches his hand to his chin. “This light brings clarity. I suppose I am the only one who feels it.” 

I believe him. The light is to him as the shadows are to me, and I can understand the feeling he described to me even though I cannot put it in words of my own. 

The light spills across this central place, and cascades as if guided by Linore across the rest of our home. These four temples are at the centre of all things here, raised above the rest. Stairs lead down to lower levels, where temples for the other gods stand. Saolir and Linore’s temples are often empty, and I know that they are on Saolir’s planet. Cir, in contrast, spends much of their days within their own temple. A chill hung about the place, and I saw the others give it a fleeting sideways glance every time they passed by it. They felt a feeling that I could not. I call it fear, but I do not understand what they could be afraid of. 

Temples are not the only thing in this place. There are pools of the strange element Linore commands. Unlike the solid ground, my hand passes through and emerges covered in it. It is strange and cool to the touch. Linore calls them rivers when they flow across a landscape, and she has built rivers in our home. There is a pleasant sound to them, the pretty kind of sound that could exist forever and I would not tire of it. These rivers flow from the uppermost part of our home to the bottom, and it is only one of very many treasures. 

There are places to sit, carved of the same brilliant white material which made up the rest of the place. It is called white marble, and Saolir finds it upon his planet as well. He carved it from a cliff which he created and brought it to us. The marble he brings is not the same pure white, but a mix of colours folded together. Nonetheless, it is welcome here as well, providing a moment of shade from the nearly painful glow of light reflecting on the white. 

Upon the edge of this place there are no walls, there is simply a drop into space. None of us fear it, and I can often find the minor gods standing there and gazing towards the stars. We can see all the stars from here, and the planets around them. There are many more planets now, and many more stars. Every passing hour, new things appear in the night sky. It is almost dawn. 

A few minutes pass- for now there is a need for time smaller than an hour- and I visit Creation in her favourite place. It is a small place upon the edge of our home, with a short wall around it. She stands leaning upon it, looking down to the planets below. One planet is very close, and I can tell from the ridges upon its surface that it is Saolir’s. 

Creation does not look at me as I enter. There is something in her hands, and she is looking at it very fondly. She looks at it the same way Saolir looks at Linore, and they have named the feeling love. It is not Love, as in the realm. The meaning of the word has changed. I am happy for Linore and Saolir, though the word ‘love’ to me still holds its own meaning. 

She looks lovingly at the thing in her hand as I move to her side. I lean upon the railing, as she usually does. 

“What do you have?” I ask. The thing in her hands is small, and if my eyes do not deceive me, it is moving. 

“I’ve done it.” Creation smiles at the thing in her hands. “I’ve created life.” 

The thing in her hands does not move on its own, it is shaking as her hands tremble. 

“How is it living?” I ask. I cannot understand how it can be alive if it does not have an animated life as I do. 

“It is alive, in a different way.” She seems to answer my unspoken question. “I started it as a seed, but it grows.” 

Soon, our home is covered in that thing, it grows by the rivers when there is light. Creation makes many more kinds of the thing, naming them vines and flowers. They cling to the ground and walls as they grow. The vines are all shades of green, but the flowers come in all colours. It is a wonderful sight. They grow upon the surface of Saolir’s planet as well.

Creation does not stop. She continues to create and visit Saolir’s planet to place things upon its surface. We all frequent the planet, and now it almost has a life of its own. There are times of light and times of darkness as it spins about its sun. There is warmth and cold, and it’s surface is no longer the same grey stone. Linore has fashioned rivers and lakes, which in turn carve canyons and pour into oceans. Finally, there are Creation’s vines, which have grown to cover mountains and inhabit the seas, and there are now creatures with lives of their own who consume them. 

The creatures are small, and I often cannot see them until Creation takes me by the hand and shows me everything she has made. I can feel her pride as she tells me all about them, from her vision of them to their role within their own little homes. They move and eat, but she tells me that they do not think. They sleep when it is dark and eat when they are hungry, but they do not have thoughts or visions. She tells me that it is her goal to create such a being with thoughts and visions of its own. I have seen many impossible things come to exist, and I do not doubt that it is possible. 

Some time passes, and I visit Creation in that small place at the edge of our home. She is sitting in the center of the place. It is circular, the railing enclosing the entire place. There is only the staircase down which I walked, as this is still the lowest part of our home. Beneath us is the planet, upon which life blooms. Dawn is approaching, and Creation looks to me. In front of her is somebody who I have never seen before. 

“I’ve done it.” Creation says, and she has tears in her eyes. Her smile betrays her tears as ones of joy. 

She turns and helps the other woman stand. The new woman looks about the place in confusion, holding her own hands when Creation lets go. She is tall and thin, and wears white as we all do. From her forehead grow horns which curl as they taper to a point, and down her visible body are black markings like the marks upon many of Creation’s doings. 

Creation calls this race the First, and soon there are many more of them. They live among us in our home. I hear their voices often and they ask many questions. The First make us realise many new things which we had not thought of before. We create things which they have invented for themselves and for us. It is the day of the universe, and yesterday is already far behind us. 

There is chaos to the activities of the First. They have no domains of their own, and their lives do not have much purpose. Destruction and Light take it upon themselves to create order. We have created the First, therefore, the First must be subordinate to us. They are made to serve us, as their rulers and makers. Destruction and Light no longer speak with the First on friendly terms, the relationship between them now is one of master and servant. 

We could not realise our mistake at first, but that is a story for a later time. 

The First lived among us and we provided for them. We gave them many gifts, limited only by their hearts’ desire, but we did not give them the planet. They saw it, and they asked questions of it. We answered, but we did not allow them to visit. 

By this time the planet had changed. It is no longer simply a planet among millions of others like it. It needs a name, and so we call it the Earth. Much time had passed since the beginnings of the universe and the birth of the minor gods. Their domains were changing, as if they, too, were things that lived and grew. Linore became Water, the name she gave her element as it covered a more vast surface of the Earth than the solid ground itself.

The changes of their domain were brought about by slow and subtle change. The minor gods still controlled everything physical in the universe, but their powers had become special to the Earth. The Earth, in turn, will become a special planet, I am certain of it. It turns about its sun, as do eight other planets. We visited these planets as well, but they were not suited to host any of our plans. 

As Linore had become Water, Truneau turned from the power of the turbulent universe to the fearful storms which raged across the Earth. They rained water from the skies, so that the ground was constantly turning and moving. Nothing upon the surface of the Earth stands still now. Nothing had been still in this realm for a very long time. 

I had found Cir in the barren cold of the far edges of my universe. There, there had been nothing to change with the powers of cold. The cold simply was, and it did not change. Upon the Earth’s surface there is water, and the turning of the Earth creates seasons. Now there are things to freeze, water as it sits beyond the sun’s reach and clouds as they pour from the skies. As Truneau had become Storm, Cir became Ice. 

Coutaka had commanded the power of the suns, as Cir had commanded the powers of cold. There had been nothing to change with heat, as it simply was. As the Earth had given Cir things which could be frozen, the Earth gave Coutaka things which could be burned. Coutaka became Fire, and that is his domain. 

Finally, Saolir took the name of the planet as his own, and became Earth. 

The First had a watchful eye, and this did not go so unnoticed. 

Soon the hour came when the Earth was finally ready. Ready, but for what? We had no name for this grand plan of ours. We did not have a word grand enough for our idea yet, as we had not attempted anything like it in the past. 

In our image, Creation made a man. He has no animal-like markings like the First, no horns or fangs or claws upon the ends of his fingers. This is a man, created in the image of the gods. To him and his species, we gifted the Earth. As the First live in our temple-home, the men walk the Earth. There are more than men among them, and we call them the humans. We had perfected life upon the model of the First, and in our careless experimentation we had realised that the model of the man had already been perfected by chance. 

We walk with these humans upon the surface of the Earth. They provide for themselves, as they envision ways to hunt and gather. We keep the forests full of animals so that they do not grow hungry, and keep storms from destroying the homes that they have built for themselves. It is shoddy work, but it is their work and they take pride in it.

The day of the universe was yesterday. Today is the day of humans, and the skies are bright. 

I do not think that the next part of this narrative is mine to tell. I now have the clarity to see that you should not be hearing the next chapter of the story in my voice. From this small place at the edge of my world to yours, I give you the beginning of all things and pray that there is a worthy voice to carry you to the end. 


	2. The Beginning of All Things, part 2

Earth

  
  
  
  


Saolir, as he was called, did not care much for the cosmos, nor the big picture of everything. 

Before he opened his eyes, he had felt the ground beneath him. It felt rough but flat beneath his tender hands, but he could feel it gently curve away towards every horizon. He was laying down, the bumpy ground cool to the touch. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs until they hurt. Only then did he exhale and take his first look at the place he had been born into. 

He laid on his back, palms towards the sky. Above, tiny lights twinkled frailly against the darkness, as if they could blink at any moment and cease to exist. Saolir closed his eyes again, blinking slowly and taking in the scene again. Light came from one direction, bright and blinding. Saolir raised one hand to guard his eyes from the brightness, finally standing on unsteady legs to find a place to hide from the sun until, hopefully, it vanished. 

The ground was rough, but for the most part it was smooth. It offered no shade and nothing which could block the sun. 

“This won’t do.” Saolir said. He looked down at the ground, feeling it beneath his feet the same way he felt his body. This thing all around him was his and it was free to him to move it, so he did. He raised the ground around him, creating walls and a roof over his head so it could be dark on the inside. It was not, by any means, a large or comfortable space. Saolir had room to sit but not much more. He created a little opening by the roof so that he could tell when the light had passed and move comfortably again by shadow. 

He began to drift off, but there was not much to put his mind to, so he sat in silence without even the company of his own thoughts. Nothing else stirred around him in this barren place which he could command. He could not fathom anything else but him here. Anything without a command of the ground would surely perish by the sun.

The sun moved slowly across the sky and Saolir watched it move through the hole in his space. There was not much else to watch. The walls around him were much more like a singular circular wall, all made of the same cool, grey thing. He leaned back against it and rested there, though he was unable to be comfortable in any position he tried. Irritated, he waited for the light to disappear from the hole in the wall. 

Time passed without rush, crawling by as Saolir patiently waited for nightfall. His patience began to wear thin until he wondered if facing the sun would be better than waiting in the darkness for something that never seemed to arrive. 

After a short eternity, the light began to fade from that small gap in the wall. Saolir decided that he had already waited for so long that it would not hurt to wait just a little longer for complete darkness. When he could no longer see the light, he let his shelter retreat back into the ground from which it had come. 

There was still a little bit of light, enough to see but not enough to blind him. The light from the stars did not hurt his eyes, and he took in his surroundings again. There was still nothing in every direction. That had not changed. 

“This won’t do, either.” Saolir said. The unbroken line of the horizon irritated him and the sheer plainness of the endless stone simply looked wrong. Saolir looked around, searching for a place to begin building his world. He could not see any space suitable for the plan that began to form in his mind. Stone would reach towards the stars, high enough that one who stood upon their peaks might be able to hold back the sun as it moved across the sky. There would be mazes beneath the ground, so vast that one could spend forever walking through them and not see everything. There would be many more things too, but they could not exist until Saolir found a place he liked. 

If he could not find such a place here, he decided that it must exist elsewhere. He began to walk, following the sun’s former path of travel, so that his time of shadows might last just a little bit longer. In the shadows he walked, carefully searching for that perfect place. He could not tell what kind of place he was looking for, but he knew somewhere deep within that he would know it when he saw it. 

Satisfaction did not come before the sun. Saolir sighed, beginning to raise his shelter from the ground once more. He remembered the ceaseless boredom, how it felt like the sun would never pass, and he stopped his shelter from rising when it had emerged about halfway. However brutal the sun beat down, it would be just as bad as sitting there, bent over in the silence until he thought he would cease to be. He knew that he could not cease to be, but if there was something that was not life, it would have been identical to his experience. 

He continued through the day, the sun at his back and his shadow growing and shrinking in front of him as the day passed. 

Disenchanted by the end of the day, he watched the stars reappear as the light faded. He laid down, giving his tired feet a rest. This day had felt even longer as he strained to settle for a place to begin to build. One day, he reassured himself, he would find a worthy place. He could feel that the plain stone was almost endless, and it gave him hope again. 

Over and over, he lived this day. There seemed to be nothing that suited his taste, and even the vastness of the place ceased to bring him hope. He began to wander day and night, straying from his straight path until he was hopelessly lost. Even if he had desired to find that path again, he would not recognise it. The stone surface was entirely uniform. His path did not matter. 

The next time the sun rose, Saolir did not rise with it. He simply closed his eyes. What purpose would there be, to live the same day again, to see the same sights, and to feel the same despair when it ended? There was no more point to walking. His feet hurt, and he was tired. 

He closed his eyes as the sun became too bright to bear. Soon, he could see the light through his eyelids, so he put an arm over his eyes. To him, it was dark, but the sun still warmed his body, so he could still tell that it was there. He wished that it would leave him alone in the shadows forever so that he could be cool in his sorrow. 

“Are you alright?” 

Saolir heard a voice from above, sitting up faster than he ever had before and scrambling on the stone to turn around. 

“Hello.” 

Saolir took a heaving breath, looking the stranger up and down until he managed to say something.

“Who are you?” He asked. As far as he knew, there was nobody else but him in this place. What could someone else be doing here? There was nothing but barren stone in all directions. He was certain of it now. 

“My name’s Linore.” 

“Saolir.” 

He looked around, trying to fathom where she had come from. 

“So, where did you come from?” He asked. 

“I’m not quite sure.” Linore admitted, and returned his question. “Where did you come from?” 

“I don’t know, either. Everything looks the same.” Saolir said bitterly. 

“May I sit with you?” Linore asked. 

“I don’t know why you would want to.” 

“Well, you’re the only other person I’ve ever met.” Linore said, taking Saolir’s response as an invitation to sit in front of him. “And I’d rather be alone with company.” 

“Why would you want to be alone with me?”

“I just said! You’re the only person I know!” 

A long silence developed between the two. 

“Sorry.” Saolir said, moving the invisible stone that seemed to sit between them. “I’ve been frustrated.”

“Why?” 

Saolir told Linore about his vision and journey, his thoughts and failure. Linore was a good listener, and let him speak without interruption or any interjection of her own. 

“Let me show you something.” Linore said, as soon as Saolir had finished his lengthy tale. 

“Show me… what?” Saolir had just said, everything looked the same. What could there possibly be to see?

“Come with me.” Linore insisted, offering Saolir a hand. He took her hand cautiously, barely touching at first, as one would caress something they were afraid to lose. She grasped his hand, her skin soft and cool, her grip firm.

Linore only dropped one of Saolir’s hands, holding onto the other as she forced him to follow her. Saolir kept his hands to himself, even as the urge to reach out and touch Linore grew stronger and stronger. She was strange to him, because everything here was strange and new. Afraid to scare her away, he kept his desires to himself. 

He had decided to trust Linore, but doubt shadowed at the edge of his empty thoughts as the sun began to set beyond the horizon. 

“Just a little longer.” Linore reassured him, and he could see that she told the truth. There was something ahead, though he couldn’t tell what it could possibly be. 

As soon as they were close enough to see it, Saolir knew that it was perfect. 

“What is this?”

“It’s where I’m from.” Linore said, letting Saolir’s hand go. It truly was not much, just a shallow dip in the stone filled with a strange something which reflected the twinkling stars above. Linore walked ahead, sitting by the side of the pool and beckoning Saolir to join her there.

He cautiously followed her example. Her eyes followed him closely as he sat down. Saolir knew that Linore didn’t mean to intimidate him, but her gaze was strong and powerful. Now that his mind could be clear, he got a better look at her. 

Upon first impression, he could only think that she was beautiful. Her hair was straight and fell just past her shoulders, and had appeared a pale blue during the day. In the low light, Saolir could almost mistake it as the same exact black as the pool in front of them. He watched her tuck a loose strand behind her ear, and it shimmered as if reflecting the starlight as she moved it. 

Her white dress hung loosely, though as she sat still there was nothing to move it. This place was perfectly still. The pool in front of them could have been a hole straight through the stone and out to the other side, though Saolir knew that the sun still shone on the other side of the stone. 

Now Saolir was curious. He had seen Linore, but he had never seen himself. He knew that his hair was dark and just long enough to fall into his eyes, because he had had to push it away many times while he walked. He knew that his skin was darker than Linore’s as he had held her hand, and he knew that they wore similar white clothing, but he did not know much else. Feeling Linore’s gaze upon his back, he moved forward to the edge of the pool. Where it was shallow, he could see the stone beneath. He leaned over the pool and studied his reflection. His eyes were wide and round, partially in surprise. Where Linore’s features were softer, his face was much more angular. He leaned farther over the pool, wondering where the bottom had disappeared to. 

“Careful!” Linore’s words startled Saolir as he began to lose his balance, and he fell forward. He reached his arms out to stop his fall, but to his increasing shock his hands passed right through the surface, and he did not stop falling until he found the bottom of the pool. 

He jumped back, not quite sure where his thoughts should begin. His heart raced, and he looked back and forth in panic between his hands and the pool, ripples spreading across it from where he had fallen. Beside him, Linore fell to the side, taken in laughter. As Saolir’s heartbeat returned to something he could call normalcy, he found himself laughing along with her. 

“Let me.” Linore said between heavy breaths. He had fallen in, the cold thing reaching just past his elbows before his hands touched the stone beneath. He had emerged still covered in the thing, but with a flick of Linore’s wrist he was dry again. 

“You could have warned me.” Saolir righted himself, sitting an even more cautious distance from the pool as the ripples began to disappear. 

“I said to be careful. Also, it was funny.” 

“You wanted me to fall?”

“A little bit.” Linore said, standing and wading into the pool. It grew deeper rather quickly, and once it reached Linore’s waist she turned and motioned for Saolir to follow. 

“No.” Saolir shook his head, sending his hair into his eyes again. 

“It doesn’t hurt.” Linore called. “It’s only this deep. It’ll be even shallower for you.” 

“You want me to fall again.”

“No, I don’t. Come on.” 

Saolir stood slowly, trying to spend as much time as possible to delay entering the pool. 

“It’ll be cold.” 

“One gets used to it.” 

Linore seemed to tell the truth. At first, the pool felt even colder than before, chilling Saolir to the bone. Linore watched, lightly amused, as he struggled through the pool to her side. 

“What is this?” Saolir asked, testing one hand in the pool. 

“Water. That’s what I call it.” Linore said. “What’s that?” She pointed to the stone surrounding the pool on every side. 

“I call it stone.” 

The place did not give them much more to name. 

“So, what do you think?” Linore asked, tilting her head slightly upwards to meet his eyes. 

“I think it’s perfect.” Saolir couldn’t stop himself from smiling. 

“For the thing you were talking about?” 

“Yes. I want to do that, right here. If that’ll be alright with you.” 

“That’s why I brought you here.” Linore said. “If I didn’t want you to do it I would have left you somewhere out there and you’d still be depressed in the stone somewhere.” Her words stung a little, but Saolir could tell by her tone that she didn’t mean to hurt him. 

“Ouch.” 

“Sorry.” Linore giggled. “I’m ready when you are.” 

Soon, the place had transformed into something unrecognisable. They had started, together, from the pool, raising the stone around it to keep the sun off for the whole day except when the sun was directly overhead. That couldn’t be helped. The pool was more or less circular, and so the ridge around it was rounded to match. The only way in became an arch to the direction in which the sun set. 

The two refused to stop then, their creation growing outwards from the pool in every direction. There was more water, most of it hidden somewhere beneath the stone. Once Saolir pulled back the surface, it was free for Linore to move it. They decorated their world that way, each day making something a little bit different from the day before. At first it seemed as if they would run out of things to make, but the reach of their vision matched the vastness of the stone. 

Long before they had finished, they were discovered by somebody. They hadn’t known that there were others, but they had never ruled out the possibility. His name was Darkness, and he told them about the worlds beyond their place. Their place, he told them, was nearly invisible in the big picture of things. The conversation did not particularly interest Saolir. His work was here and there was still much to be done. 

“Each of those stars is a sun like yours, there are places such as this around each and every one of them.” Darkness said. It was night, and Darkness had expressed a distaste similar to Saolir’s for the sun. At the very least, they had that in common. 

“So?” Saolir asked. He sat by Linore, opposite to Darkness. There was nothing overhead except the stars and what apparently revolved around them. “I like this one.” 

“I do not ask you to leave. I only want to explore my universe.” Darkness looked to the sky, and Saolir looked to the horizon behind him. It did not stretch forever in a continuous line anymore. There were mountains to break its flow, and pride washed over Saolir every time the horizon line disappeared behind a peak. The pride of knowing that he had made it, perhaps that was the pride Darkness felt as he travelled about his universe. Saolir could understand that. 

Soon enough, though, Saolir decided to travel, and see what the other places in the universe had to offer. The space in between was not much like anything upon the stone surface. Here, there was no singular sun to rise or set, and travel was much too slow. Things were much too far apart and held sights which were much too disappointing. The things were of varying sizes, but all were either not solid at all or made of the same simple stone. There was nothing of interest upon any of them. They were barren, not only in sights but in sounds as well. Saolir had grown so accustomed to the constant sound of moving water wherever he went, that being without the sound was like being without sight. It blinded him, and though he was standing upon the threshold of possibility, his heart wished for nothing more to be home. Perhaps these places could be future projects for Saolir and Linore, once their vision had come to be. They could show them sound, so that they would no longer be silent and barren and lonely. Another project, for another time. For now, the work remained on that single place which Saolir and Linore prided themselves upon calling home. 

Now that it was so different from the other things in the universe, there ought to be some different name for it, Saolir thought. He decided to call the things planets, but he did not choose a name for his planet. It belonged to Linore as much as it was his. They would name it together, when they were ready. For now, it was simply their planet. Their planet, and their home. Their home, which they had built, and were not yet finished building. 

It caught the eye of Creation not long after Darkness had begun to visit. He did not visit only once and never return. Without much warning, for it was rather impossible to give any warning, he would arrive. Darkness was never rude and never pried, and had left the subject of travel alone since Saolir had expressed his distaste for it. He was polite, and that was respectable. Linore gave him a little bit more to talk about, albeit not much. She was the same way with Creation, conversation coming a little easier to her than him. 

“I’ve never seen anything quite like this.” Creation said. Unlike when Darkness had come, it was the middle of the day. Saolir had taken to seeking shelter beneath a rocky overhang during the day. The stone kept the place covered, and the shadows kept the place cool. “A place to return to. The same place, every time. It must be nice.” She smiled wishfully. 

“So make one for yourself.” Saolir said. “You are the goddess of creation.” 

“How did you know what to create?” Creation asked. “I know I have the power to make, but I’m afraid I don’t have a vision.” 

Saolir had to think for a moment. How had he known what to make? Truthfully, he had never truly known, perhaps because such things as he had done hadn’t existed before he had done them. 

“I just did.” Saolir admitted. “And everything fell into place.” 

“How can you create without a vision?” 

“I found a perfect-“ Saolir began. “Place. I found a perfect place.” He had wanted to use a different word. What had it been? He could no longer remember. 

“How did you know the place was perfect?” 

“I just did. There’s not much more to it. I think you think too much.” Saolir said. “I only have this planet, you have the entire universe. I think you’re thinking too hard about everything. Having a vision, I think it needs an empty mind.” 

“Clear my mind.” Creation slowly repeated the words as if they described an idea which was foreign to her. They likely did. “I do not believe I know how.” 

“I’m sorry. I can’t teach you.” 

“That is alright.” Creation said. “Thank you, though. For what you could.” 

“Anytime.” 

He knew, or rather, was made aware that she had found her vision when she did. Some time had passed since their conversation, but Creation had obviously not forgotten any of it. Unlike Darkness’ visits, hers were fewer and farther between. 

Saolir and Linore’s project was almost finished when Creation finally returned to the planet. They had left almost no empty space upon the planet above or below the water. 

“I’ve done it!” Creation exclaimed, spreading her arms as wide as her smile. “Thank you, I do mean it.” He could tell that her gratitude was sincere and came hand in hand with relief and pride. 

“What did you do?” Linore asked. This time, she was with them. It was sunny again, and Saolir sat once again beneath that overhang, his home within the planet. 

“I cleared my mind, as you said. It was difficult.” Creation admitted. She did not have to duck her head as she climbed beneath the overhang to sit with them. “But I made it. A home for myself, like you have here.”

“A planet?” Saolir was shocked at how quickly she would have managed to terraform an entire planet on her own, though she was the goddess of creation, and he should not have doubted the reach of her powers. After all, she had created the entire universe and everything within it. 

“No, nothing like that.” Creation shook her head. “Just a small place. It is only for me, and I think it is just as I envisioned it, but I feel like it’s missing something.” 

“Another person, perhaps?” Saolir asked, his gaze tracking sideways to where Linore sat. 

“Perhaps.” Creation agreed. “I would ask you to live there, but you two have spent so long here, it feels wrong to tear you from this place.” 

“Darkness, then?” He suggested. 

“I will ask Darkness!” 

“To tell the truth, I think this place is missing something, too.” Linore spoke up. “We are already here, but I feel like this place is meant for much more than that.” 

Saolir did not deny that he felt the same way, though he also did not deny that he was afraid to speak new ideas to Linore. Even after all this time, he was still afraid to lose her, and if a word would drive them apart then he would refuse to speak it. This fear, he knew, was irrational, but it was his painful reality. 

“This planet could be a place for things to live. I have a hard time finding words for it, but something inhuman.” Linore frowned, the same look she always had when she tried to concentrate hard. She searched for words that had not been spoken before, to describe a vision she didn’t quite understand yet. “Something which grows, and spreads. It’s not like us. It’s… like water, but it’s alive.” 

Creation nodded slowly, but Saolir could not understand. Something unlike them, yet something that lived? He would need to lay his eyes upon such a thing before he believed that it was real. 

Creation returned, with increasing frequency, bringing news of her home. She offered Saolir and Linore a place there, and they accepted her invitation, though they still spent much of their time in that place which they had made for themselves. After completing the first part of their vision, they returned to the place where it had all begun. There, they grew more and more certain that their planet was meant for something more. They spent their days by that pool, trying to fathom what the fate of their planet could be. 

During one of Creation’s visits, she brought something new with her. She trembled with excitement as she presented it to them, something that lived, but was not like them. A vine, she named it. A kind of plant, a thing that grew, but had no thoughts of its own. It would grow, Creation said, so long as it had water and light and a place to be. 

Soon, the little area around the pool hung heavy with the vines as they grew, as Creation had said they would. They were a subject of fascination and wonder for the pair. 

Creation did not stop with the vines, and each visit since then she brought a new gift with her, each more wondrous than the last. Soon, the face of the planet bloomed green and beautiful, more beautiful and colourful than either Linore or Saolir could have imagined when they began that glorious project. 

Now, the pair walked together, nothing left to do but explore, and for that they had all the time in that world where time stood still for them. 

By sunset, they made their way through the tall grass, to the place they sat to watch the sun dip below the horizon. This ritual had become their only way to keep track of passing time, for every night by the evening they would make the short walk there. The sun stained the sky orange, and Linore watched it slowly sink behind the ocean, but Saolir could not take his eyes off of her. 

As the ocean reflected the orange sky, Linore’s hair shone with bright streaks in every colour of the sunset. Her hair had grown, now falling to her hips on the days she let it down. He looked into her eyes, dreamily unaware that she began to reciprocate. Her eyes, long and narrow and pretty blue. Those eyes which had seen his world from the very beginning, an eternity ago. Those eyes which had smiled and laughed at him and with him until he was taken by joy as well- he looked into those beautiful eyes, and he found something new in his heart. 

No. It had always been there. 

“What?” Linore asked playfully, gently pushing Saolir away. He blinked, realising that the sun had nearly set. He searched her face for anger or disgust, but found nothing of the sort. She smiled at him, and her smile had never been fake. Even in the low light, he could see a slight flush to her cheeks. 

“It’s nothing.” Saolir said, but he could not fight the same smile. 

Without much other warning, she pressed her lips to his. She raised her hand to his cheek, her touch still soft even though her hands have become rough from work. He closed his eyes, the scent of her surrounding him. She smelled like the ocean, salty and deep and powerfully intoxicating, as if he were drowning and welcoming every moment of it. 

She pulled away, their embrace short-lived and experimental. They sat together, then, and they had no more words left to say. There was something unspoken between them, and each waited for the other to say it. 

“I-“ 

“Linore-“ 

They both began to speak at the same time. 

“I- I’m sorry.”

“No, you first.” 

They both laughed. 

“At the same time, then?” Linore asked, moving to sit so slightly closer to Saolir. 

He nodded, drawing her closer to him. 

“I love you.” 

They said it at the same time, unsure of what the words meant except that they meant something important. It was the name they’d both given to their infatuation as they had both realised that their feelings ran as deep as they did. Love. It was something new, but not fearful. Something new to hold and embrace and explore together. 

And she kissed him again, and there was nothing more in that world he could think of wanting. 

Creation continued to bring her gifts. Like the vines, they had seemed nothing short of impossible before Creation revealed them. Linore and Saolir spoke together and agreed, their world should be turned into something to share. They knew the other gods kept their eye on the planet, longing to visit its surface but without the words to ask permission. 

They continued to accept Creation’s gifts. With every passing day, the planet seemed like less and less of their creation. Even when Saolir asked himself how he felt about it, he couldn’t come up with an answer. He watched Linore, though, and she spoke often about how wonderful the world was becoming. It was his turn to be a good listener, and let her speak. He liked to hear the sound of her voice, and her happiness was his. 

When Linore asked to spend longer and longer upon the temple-home Creation had built, Saolir followed her without question. It was a different place, hard to enjoy at first, but he grew to bear it. At least here, the sun was not so strong and shade was easy to find. 

There were no days here, at least not in the same sense as there had been days on Earth. The place did not move and remained impossibly still in space. Saolir had forgotten what it felt like to have the world around him be completely still, and he would not be reminded anytime soon. There were rivers here, as there were rivers on his planet. Linore had created them, during her previous days with Creation, and they made the place less lonely. 

The time that he and Linore spent apart, he spent alone. She had Creation, and he had seen her walking with Darkness as well, but he did not know anybody else and the others did not seem so eager to meet him. 

Three other people, and Linore and himself, made up one group out of three that Saolir had noticed. Darkness, Light, Creation, and Destruction made the first group. The five of them, the three strangers and Linore and Saolir, made up the second. The third was a strange group, larger but without power, subordinate in every aspect to the first group, which he began to call the big four. 

Among the third group there were five allegiances. The people of that group were not quite people, with slightly inhuman proportions and a wide range of features, though the common trait between them seemed to be colourful markings, like some of the creatures upon the planet. Saolir knew then that Creation had made these beings as well. The markings seemed to dictate which of the big four, in particular, the individual was to serve. There were five colours, at least, five colours which Saolir had taken notice of: red, green, blue, purple, and black. They possessed no common traits between them but the colour of their marking, but the red ones served Destruction as the purple served Darkness, as the green served Light and the blue served Creation. The fifth allegiance were those with black markings, who served no one god but divided their attention as they pleased among the four. The black ones sometimes talked to him, but he refused their service and their questions every time. 

“What’s your deal?” A voice pulled him back just as he had begun to become lost in his thoughts. 

Saolir looked up abruptly, waiting for Linore just outside of the arch leading onto the platform where the Big Four spent most of their time. 

“Who are you?” He asked, looking up from where he sat. The other person could look down on him, though Saolir could easily turn the tables on him if he stood. 

“Coutaka. Fire, now.”

“Oh, yes.” Saolir, Earth, murmured to himself. 

“Huh?” Fire leaned down, eyebrows raised as if that would get Earth to speak up. 

“I didn’t say anything to you.” Earth said. “What do you want?” 

“I asked you, what’s your deal?” Fire made a face. “You’re here, but you never talk to anyone. Why not go back to that planet and stay there? Don’t tell me you just follow her around. That’d be pathetic.” 

“Aren’t there other people you could talk to?” Earth asked. 

“Are you going to answer my question or not?” 

“I really don’t think I will.” Earth stood to face him, though he could easily look down on Fire. He hadn’t realised how tall he and Linore were, since for the longest time they’d only had each other. “Just leave me alone.”

“I’ll do whatever I want.” 

Fire made his last remark as he pulled Earth towards him, stepping out of the way to shove him into the centre of the wide road. He was strong despite his stature, and managed to take Earth’s balance without seemingly too much effort. Earth was faintly aware that they had begun to gather an audience of the servants, who slowed or stopped along their various paths. The path was wide enough to accommodate them all, though the space was open and by nature attracted attention to the rising conflict. 

“Got it?” He challenged. Flames erupted between his hands, sparks dancing and popping in the air. Their little audience took a collective step away, those who held things holding them a little bit tighter and those close to others standing a little bit closer. 

Fire let his flames fly, the audience letting out a gasp with one collective breath. The breadth of the attack stole away any possibility of stepping out of harm’s way. Earth did not know if the flames would hurt him, but he remembered the way the sun had burned him as he had worked down on the planet’s surface, and that Fire’s power commanded the sun, and he did not want to take the chance. He stepped backwards, pulling a large white tile to its side, so that the attack dissipated upon its surface. Recovering his breath just barely enough to think, he pushed the tile forward, knocking Fire down before pulling it back into place. Earth noticed a ripple of movement from behind Fire, interpreting it as servants scrambling to get out of his way. His attention was on Fire, and he could not see much more. 

“You-“ Fire began to rise before another person emerged from the crowd and put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting up. The crowd had parted to let them though, but none had begun to leave to continue going about their duties. “Let me go.” He tried to slap their hand away, but their grip tightened on his shoulder. “That hurts, you ass.” 

The new person stood, taking a few short steps forward to address Earth. They spoke with their hands, but Earth could not understand.

“I guess they say they’re sorry for me.” Fire muttered, brushing off his tunic and coming to stand beside them. “I’m not.” 

They signed some more, which Earth began to interpret by Fire’s reactions. 

“I am not annoying or a ‘hard to deal with’.” Fire hissed, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “You are.” 

“Always hard to deal with.” The person spoke, their words unenunciated but still comprehensible. Beside them, Fire rolled his eyes and mockingly mouthed something in response. “My name’s Truneau.”

“Storm.” Fire interjected with his hands and with his words.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t care. You are?” Storm asked. 

“He’s Earth.” Fire said, spelling it for Storm. “Don’t be friendly.” 

Storm waved goodbye as Fire pulled him away. Earth mimicked the gesture, hearing the servants break free from the trace and return to their activities around him. Despite the implications of having powers inherited from a command of the turbulent universe, Storm had an air of calm about them. Fire seemed to be the opposite. In the darker places of the temple-home, torches illuminated where the light did not reach, giving light and warmth and a gentle sound to the halls, but Fire was an angry boy, and Earth made a note to stay clear of him. 

Just behind where Fire had fallen into the crowd, a servant girl with black markings still sat on the ground. Now that Fire had left, Earth began to see clearly again. He made his way over to her, conquering the nervousness he felt around them and extending a hand.

She did not take it. Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze tracked slowly from his face to his hand and back, and she still did not take his hand. 

“I’m so sorry.” 

Another girl rushed to the first’s side, this one marked in blue. The first blinked hard, shaking herself from her glare. Still, the way she sat was tense and angry. The second girl set the jar she was carrying to the side, gently laying a hand on the first’s shoulder. 

“Come on, Nüe.” She urged. 

Nüe stood slowly, taking the help of her friend but not taking her eyes off of Earth. He had not seen that look in the eyes of another servant before. Nüe’s friend took up her burden again, continuing on to wherever she had been going. Nüe went with her, and Earth could feel her backwards glances. The pair left quickly, if Earth saw them again he wouldn’t recognise them. 

He took a breath to steady his heart, and continued on his way as well.

Earth decided to explore a little bit more, after all, the temple-home was larger than what words could do justice to. Even so, the big four rarely ever left the raised central platform, and they spent most of their time there. Linore told him that they were working on some special thing, though she couldn’t tell him precisely what it was, for she hadn’t been told either. They had only said that it would be important, and that the Earth would have a role in it. 

“What could I be a part of that they won’t even talk to me about it?” Earth had asked one day, or during whatever passed as a day upon the temple-home. No singular sun offered anything to tell the time by. 

“I don’t know.” Water had answered. “I think they’ll tell us soon.” 

Neither of them knew when that ‘soon’ would come, until it did. Nobody seemed to have any direction, and Earth began to feel useless and out of place. There was still work to be done.

“What’s all this about?” Fire asked. The gods had assembled the five of them, Earth, Water, Fire, and Storm, even Ice, who Earth had not seen very clearly before. They had a mysterious air to them, a feeling that perhaps did not exist yet and could not be described. They stood upon that centre platform where the big four had isolated themselves for quite some time. “Done with that thing so great that literally nobody else gets to know what it is?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact.” Light said. “We finished our part, now it is your time.” 

“Hold on, I never signed up for any of this.” Fire said, stepping forward out of the rough line they had formed. 

“Yes. We did.” Darkness said. “We decided it shall be so.”

“What shall be so, just say it. One of us finally figured out how to have offspring?” 

“No.” Light said. “Yes?” He gave a confused look to Darkness, who returned it. Creation, who stood slightly in front of them, shook her head but said nothing. 

“I would love to stay and chat, but I can’t tell what is happening and I would like to go home.” Storm interjected. “Please.”

  
  


Creation revealed their project in its final stages. They would create life in the image of the gods. Instead of a servant race, for that had become the role of the First, the gods would now create a race of men, to whom the Earth would be dedicated. It had not yet come to be, Darkness had told them, but it would soon be. The new duty of the minor gods was to prepare the Earth to receive the human race, and the minor gods received their project with mixed feelings. 

“I can’t remember when I said I wanted to do that.” Fire said. 

“Why would you create a new race of men?” Ice finally spoke up, drawing the attention of the entire space unto themself. “The First already live. We live. Why should we do more?” They spoke slowly, or perhaps time slowed down just for them. When they were finished, Earth could barely remember anything except their words. Not the colour of their eyes, nor if they even had had eyes. 

“If we do not do more, the day cannot progress.” Darkness said, with that stranger way of speaking that all the big four had. “You are here because we decided to make, and we began a new day.”

“None of us asked to be made.” Fire motioned to everyone behind him. 

“That is the mystery of creation, I suppose.” 

Water received her long-anticipated news with excitement, beginning to ramble in half-formed sentences which might have made sense to her. Storm expressed a similar excitement, though a quiet one, and left with the beginnings of a mischievous idea in their eye. Fire walked beside Storm, mumbling to himself until Storm told him to speak up and he said it was nothing. 

Ice kept their unreadable expression, and Earth found himself in similar indifference. He began to think about that servant girl again. Though he had forgotten her name, he didn’t think he could ever forget how her dark eyes had made him feel. 

“I thought you’d be happier.” Water said. 

“I don’t really know how to feel.” He admitted. “I’m happy, but I’m also…”

“Disenchanted?” 

“I can’t tell. I like to make things, but…”

“...not being told what to make, and for whom.” Water said the words just before they came to mind. He nodded solemnly. “I understand.” She matched her voice to the tone of his actions. “But we do have forever to do whatever we want.” She said hopefully.

“Yeah. We do.” The thought brought Earth some comfort. He hadn’t ever considered the boundlessness of the universe to be a reassurance, but when Water phrased it as she had, he could begin to see it. After all, they did have the rest of time to spend together, and the entire universe to spend it in. They would be free to travel somewhere far away once their end of the big four’s project had been completed, and then they could go somewhere and start anew, alone together again. 

“Once this is over, then?” Water smiled, the way she smiled when she was holding in a laugh. 

“Once this is over.” Earth said. 

“Where’d you think we’ll go?” She asked, breaking eye contact to stare into the expanse of space. They could not see the planet from where they stood. Perhaps that was a good thing. 

“I don’t know. I’ll know when we get there.” 

“Like before? Indecisively wandering around until you drop?” Water teased, looking back at him. 

“Just like before.” 

Only now, he’d found the perfect person to wander with. 

Pity, then. 

What a dream. 


	3. The Beginning of All Things, part 3

Nüe

  
  
  


She told herself that fear was not the reason her heart raced. There should be nothing to be afraid of. Her actions meant nothing and they were not wrong. She was not wrong to act as she pleased. Still, her body remained frozen in place. The hall stretched before her, seeming to grow longer and longer as she stared. Tears formed in her eyes as her body refused to blink, and though she could not shiver, a sudden breath of cold chilled her to her bones. 

She took her first step with the labour of a thousand. She heard nothing except the sound of her heartbeat pounding and shuddering breaths. Alone in the hallway, she had no other choice than to accept them as her own. She took her second step, no less difficult than the first. Exhilaration washed over her in a wave, and her body became free from its unwilling trance. She pried her fixed gaze away from the end of the hall, looking to her sides and to her sandalled feet. The exhilaration brought her warmth, and without thinking, she began to run. She ran faster and faster down the endless corridor. There was no way to stop now. Instead of being frozen, her body refused to stop moving. Indeed, there was no desire to stop. Her heart raced, not out of fear anymore, but excitement. Running did not tire her here. 

Behind her, darkness began to close in. It chased her, gaining speed and weighing on her mind. She knew it was there, but her body refused to let her look. She continued to race forward. She had made up her mind. There was no way to stop now, she could outrun it. The endless corridor stretched before her and she had made up her mind to conquer it. 

She could not remember when she had lost her balance, she only knew that she had stopped moving. The cold marble froze her hands in place. She could not pull her body away from where it touched the floor as she laid prone. Fear overtook her, and she could not gather the strength to look back before the shadows did the same, albeit much more literally. 

Nüe’s eyes shot open as she sat upright in her bed. Her heart still raced and her breathing still came in ragged gasps. Sweat stuck her hair to her face and neck. Nüe frantically untangled her legs from the thin sheets, finally kicking them away with short, clumsy movements. 

The shadows had touched her and grabbed her leg. They had held firm, and their grip had been strong. They were colder than anything she had ever felt before, colder than the white marble which had frozen her in place. Nüe traced her hand down the black markings running down her leg, sure that the shadowy hand would still cling to her in her waking hours, dragging behind her wherever she walked and not allowing her a moment of peace. 

Nearly every night, she had lived that dream. She had taken to praying, to any god who would listen, but the nightmare persisted. Almost night played out the same. She saw the same corridor and felt the same rush of excitement. Every time, she would break into a run and every time, she would fall. When she fell, the shadows took her, and she never stayed asleep long enough to find out what happened next. It did not matter how quickly she ran or how determined she was to stay on her feet. She always fell. 

She cried out in frustration, hitting the mattress beneath her. To her mounting frustration, it only bounced back after she struck it. Her bed was uncomfortably warm. She threw the rest of her sheets to the side, finally realising that she had been gripping them with all her strength, clutching them to her chest as if they were the last thing keeping her from being dragged down by that shadowy hand into some fearful fate. 

Shuddering as her bare feet touched the cold tile, Nüe stumbled a few steps across the small room. It was not much, just enough for her bed, a desk, and a wardrobe, with just enough space left on the walls for two doors and a small window. One led into her shared bathroom and the other into an equally tiny living room. The whole house was small and everything in it felt small. Even so, it was enough. Nüe was a servant, and she did not have many things of her own. None of the servants had many things, and all their houses were small. They lived two to one house, with their bedrooms being the only spaces they had to call theirs and only theirs. Still, their bedrooms remained nothing impressive. 

Nüe opened the wardrobe’s doors to choose new clothes for the day. She pulled a clean dress out of the wardrobe and closed the doors again. Even though she knew her housemate started her day early and would not be in the house, she knocked on the bathroom door. It connected their two rooms and was shared between them. As she had expected, no reply came from inside. The door creaked slightly as she opened it just wide enough to slip through and closed it behind her. 

Like her bedroom, the bathroom was nothing special, though it was cluttered with more things as two First occupied the space instead of one. Nüe set her clean clothes on the ground, trusting that the floor was clean enough to do so. It had been her housemate’s turn to clean their shared spaces, and she trusted her housemate to do her chores well. The silver faucet squeaked as it turned, water raining down from a showerhead embedded in the ceiling above. 

Nüe freed herself from her sweat-soaked clothes with a little difficulty and placed them in her basket, right next to her housemate’s. Her basket was white with black handles, and her housemate’s was white with red handles. Otherwise, they were identical, though Nüe’s was always a little more full. 

She did not wait for the shower water to run warm before stepping in. The cold shocked her to her senses and she gasped reflexively. Her room had been simultaneously too hot and too cold, but the running water was simply cold. Already uncomfortable, she stepped out of the steady stream. She folded her arms tightly across her chest, waiting for the water to warm up. The shower was small, so there was no place where she could truly stand out of the way of the falling water. Wherever she tried to stand, the water found some way to spray her. There was only the sound of her teeth chattering as she began to believe that heat had simply disappeared from the universe and her water would never become warm. 

Eventually, the shower’s spray became warm against Nüe’s crossed arms, and she cautiously stepped back underneath the water. 

She let her arms hang by her side and slowly looked upwards with closed eyes. Hot water hit her face, and she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. She covered her face with her hands. Without any rush, she tilted her head back downwards, wiping water away from her eyes even though she knew water would run back down into her face anyways. Wet hair clung to her neck and back, down to just beneath her shoulder blades. Thankfully, her hair was thin enough to tie up without much trouble, though she knew she would likely have to cut it soon. 

The warm water relaxed her. She had been nothing short of on-edge since she woke up. Here, she forced herself to breathe, relax her shoulders, and open her hands before she subconsciously made a fist. She made herself close her eyes slowly and keep them shut, convincing herself that the shadows could not hurt her in her waking hours. Even so, she could not stop herself from stealing the occasional downwards glance to her leg, where she could still feel an echo of the shadowy handprint in perfect time with her heartbeat. 

Even though the water had long since fogged up the glass shower door, she shivered as if she was frozen again. She crossed her arms once more, letting her back hunch over. Dreading the darkness behind her eyelids, she stared into the tiled wall until her eyes burned and brimmed with tears. She held her eyes open for as long as she could bear before surrendering and blinking quickly. The tears fell, mixing with the hot water as they both ran down Nüe’s face. 

She stood beneath the shower without any kinds of thoughts, scared of a racing mind and thoughts that would spiral out of control. She steadied herself on the sound of the constant stream of water, forcing herself to stand up straight again and breathe. 

Though she could have stood there forever, she made herself turn off the water once she had had what might have been enough. She moved the sliding glass door aside just enough to reach out and grab her towel. She dried herself in the shower, stepping out into the cold air once she had dried her body and reaching for a second towel to dry her hair. 

  
  


She paused in front of the mirror, swiping a hand through the fog which had accumulated on its surface. She leaned over the cool countertop to look at her reflection. Since the first time she had gotten that recurring nightmare, she hadn’t slept well. There had been a few peaceful nights at the beginning, but they were becoming fewer and farther between. Nüe feared that it would begin to show on her face and in her actions, in the form of dulled motions and tired eyes. 

No such thing occurred, just yet, and Nüe stepped back from the mirror in relief. At least, nobody might notice for another day. She knew she feared the attention, because she wouldn’t know how to respond if anyone asked her questions. She barely knew where to begin unpacking her recurring dream, so it remained in its mystery, buried somewhere deep within her mind during the day to rear its ugly face at night. 

She dressed herself with no particular urgency to her actions. Almost every First wore white clothes, though someone had found out the secret to colouring cloth with crushed flowers. Nüe wished she could have something of colour, but dresses took a long time to dye and he who discovered the secret had no reason to prioritise her wants. All her clothing was light and loose-fitting because the temple was seldom cold. Wearing heavy clothes seemed to be a luxury for the gods, who had a different relationship with the weather. 

Nüe held up her dress, turning it around and back again to search for the front. Nothing distinguished the front from the back save the small hole where her tail could poke through. She found it strange that the gods had no such features, then again, the gods had strange relationships with almost every aspect of being. The eldest gods were not of this universe. They did not answer many questions, but they had said that the diversity among the First made creating worth it. After all, they had said, why create more if the new is the same as the old? Nüe could understand very little of their philosophies, but she could see the world around her. No two First were identical, not that there was much beauty in it, it simply was how the temple was. 

After putting on her dress, she moved back to the mirror to do her hair. She dried it as best she could with the towel, having to accept that her hair would not be able to dry on its own before she grew too impatient to leave the house to wait any longer. She put the towel back on its rack to dry for, inevitably, a repetition of this morning’s routine tomorrow. 

She gently brushed her hair, pulled it into a ponytail just off her neck, and gently twisted it to pin it into a bun with slender, golden pins. Before she left the bathroom, she took a sweeping glance back to check that she hadn’t left a mess for her housemate to clean up. Almost satisfied with how she left it, she frowned at her laundry basket. She would have to do her wash soon.

The bathroom door closed with the same slight creak with which it had opened. Nüe stopped in her bedroom just long enough to fix the tangled bedsheets before continuing on her way. She made her way through their shared living room to the door and knelt to put on her sandals. Left foot, then right foot. 

Neither her nor her housemate were in the habit of locking their doors. Not many of the First were, unless they owned something precious to them that they did not wish to risk losing. All their houses looked similar, so it was easy to accidentally open somebody else’s door. Nüe had mistakenly entered the wrong house a few times in the past, though it was a common misconception and nobody thought back on it twice. 

Nüe hadn’t realised how suffocating the inside of her home was beginning to feel until she stepped outside. She took a deep breath and smiled, immediately feeling the last of her stress lifting from her shoulders. 

Yes, that was what she needed. She looked both ways down the street, deciding to take the long way around her neighbourhood. The path was paved with carefully-laid stones and dipped lazily downwards on a gentle slant, which would be nearly unnoticeable if it hadn’t been for the small stream running parallel to the path. Nüe kept to the far right of the road. Though it wasn’t crowded, she still gave space to those in a little more of a hurry than her. 

Eventually, the path wound its way back upwards, to the tiled plateaus typical to the rest of the temple. Nüe supposedly had work now, but she had been careful not to accept responsibilities which lasted longer than a few days. She avoided such bondage, and alongside her natural freedom, her daily schedule remained hers. It was boring, yes, but better than servitude. 

Her avoidance of work had not always been rooted in a fear of entrapment. It had begun when she was younger and lazy, she had avoided work on purpose to earn herself a few more moments of stargazing in the evening. Soon, she developed a liking for those moments of peace, though she was not so enamoured by the peace as she was with herself. The time alone gave her time to herself, and she began to think to herself during her time alone. She would stare at the stars and think. She did not ask the same superficial questions the other First might ask a friend in passing. Her thoughts were deeper, though she had had to teach herself to think that way. She began with a journey beyond the stars, and as her mind drifted home, she thought about everything there was to think about along the way. Those thoughts consumed her time, alluring and utterly intoxicating. She quickly became an addict, and could desire nothing except more time to herself, with only herself and her own thoughts. 

As her mind journeyed home, her thoughts fell upon the gods. They created all life. They were the force of all things in the universe. They had created by their own wills and by their own wills they gave the universe life. Their desires could not be understood by the powerless First, and it was the ultimate honour of any First to give themselves, to the best of their ability, to servitude. 

How Nüe resented such thoughts! 

How dare the gods insist that she ought to serve their desires above her own! The first time the thought had occurred to her, Nüe quickly pushed it to the back of her mind. How dare the gods insist that she ought to serve their desires above her own? No. How dare she think that her desires could somehow be more important than those of the gods? After all, they had given the universe life by the force of their own wills, and they could take life from the universe if they so pleased. They had given life to each and every one of the First. Every First had been created for a reason, and if the reason was to serve the gods, then so be it. By the wills of the gods they had been made, so by the wills of the gods they must be. 

However she attempted to suppress her mind, the thought persisted. It would not die and it would not fade. Every day, she heard the voice in her head repeat the thought, and she knew that she was growing tired of suppressing it. 

She chose to embrace it. 

How dare the gods insist that she ought to serve their desires above her own! Though she could think the thought freely now, she did not know what else to think. She was certain that there were more words to think, but she did not know what they were. Still, she was satisfied with the sentiment, even though she did not share it with anyone. Some thoughts ought to be kept unvoiced. This was one such thought. She knew that she would be punished if she spoke those words, those glorious words which she had spent so long fighting. 

As if she had never had such thoughts, her life went on. She continued to live, though she began to think of each moment she took for herself as moments stolen from the gods. They were no longer quiet moments of peace for her to clear her mind. They were her little rebellion, fuelled by that little thought, and they sparked a little pride deep within her heart with every passing second. 

Though it pleased her, she could not live in her little fantasy forever. It was her small place to visit but not to stay. She still lived in the temple, and so she still worked in the temple. As her fellow First served, she served as well, and they all went about their days. 

She found herself before the white-tiled plaza, a crossroads for many of the First as they moved about their day. She had taken to sitting here, surrounded by others but never involved in anything. She was content there, just sitting, looking, listening, and thinking. Her own company was enough for her here, as she disliked being truly alone. Sitting alone in her home was nothing short of suffocating, and the monotonous lack of decor did well to repel her. She did better here, where there was sound and sights and conversations to keep her mind from diving even deeper into itself, into thoughts she was not ready for. 

Among those thoughts was her nightmare. She knew nothing about it except that it was the same every night, and the gods never seemed to hear her prayers where she begged and pleaded for an unbroken night. Another First had speculated that every dream had a meaning. Nüe had sat up a little straighter when he spoke, desperate to catch another glimpse into his conversation before he vanished beyond her reach. She had slumped back over, beginning to think again and soon becoming lost in thought. 

Still, she could not discern any meaning from her dream. 

“Nüe!” 

A familiar voice shook her out of her thoughts. She hadn’t sat down yet, so there was no need to stand. The familiar voice belonged to a familiar face, one of the only First whom Nüe would consider her friend. 

“You said you’d be here early.” Kae pouted. “I’ve been waiting.”

Kae was older than Nüe, though one’s childlike expressions and the other’s strong build might deceive otherwise. She held a woven basket in front of her body with both her hands, though Nüe could have carried it in one. Unlike Nüe, who was not bound to serve a single god, Kae had been fated to serve Creation. It was an honour, Nüe supposed, to serve the one who had given them life. Creation, Nüe supposed, was the one whom they owed something to. 

“It’s early for me.” Nüe shrugged. There was no way to measure time in the temple. It was early in Nüe’s mind, and that was all she had to live by. Kae was one of the First who began their days impossibly early. Nüe would never understand that. 

They made some conversation as they walked. Nüe often accompanied Kae in her work, for a change of pace and scenery. Only those doing work were allowed to pass through the more sacred parts of the temple, and Nüe found herself intrigued by the spaces. From what she could see, they were similar to any other place in the temple. Perhaps it was simply the allure of the forbidden that drew her fascination. 

Kae expertly made her way down crowded, narrow streets, walking nimbly on her tiptoes and never once taking a clumsy step. It was as if she were dancing, or were a fallen leaf floating down a gentle river. Her steps were practiced from travelling these paths frequently. She must have found some joy in it, to dance as she did. That was another thing Nüe would never understand- how Kae found such joy in servitude. 

There was no time for thinking in the streets. As soon as her mind began to wander, Nüe would be jostled back to attention. No matter how many times she walked the street, she never became used to it. She stumbled out of the crowd, breathless and frustrated to her limit. 

Her friend had waited for her but made no comment. None of the contents of her basket had spilled during her dance. They continued on their way, the path becoming less crowded and chaotic as they put distance between themselves and the jammed part of the street. 

Nüe did not ask what was in her basket. When she had carried baskets from place to place, she had often not known much about the contents. She had gotten them from another First and given them to another First. Perhaps they had known something about the contents, but Nüe was not one to strike up conversation. She did her work, and she did it well enough to earn her rest. Then, perhaps the other First had not known either. The work of the gods was not meant to be understood by any but them. That, Kae often said, is the joy of the mystery. Foolish, Nüe responded in her mind. There was no joy in it for her. If she had ever found happiness in it, she had forgotten what it felt like. 

The joy of servitude, however, had been replaced by other things. The joy of thinking, the rush of excitement peering down forbidden passages. The fear she felt at night. 

Nüe continued to follow her friend as she walked, humming some happy tune to herself. Her song was soft, easily drowned out in crowded parts of the road, but Nüe could always hear it again once the clamour died back down. It was never any louder than before. Nüe did not mind the sound. It did not bring her comfort nor did it bring her joy, she simply did not mind it. They walked together as they listened to that song, until they reached Kae’s destination. 

The First standing by the arch did not let Nüe pass. 

“Wait here.” Kae turned just her head to look at Nüe. “I’ll be back. I think this’ll be quick.” 

The First standing at the arch moved to the side to let Kae through, and she disappeared into the most sacred space they were allowed to be. Nüe stared after her for as long as she could, before Kae disappeared into the small crowd on the centre temples. In the centre of all things was the holy light, which burned Nüe’s eyes as she stared directly at it in fascination. It illuminated all spaces there, even down alleys and corridors. No First turned to walk down them, they only walked past them down the very middle. What were these spaces, even more sacred than the centre temples? What could be in such places that they could be so sacred, so forbidden? 

Nüe stared as long as she could. 

After the First at the arch told her to stop blocking the road, she began to pace the side impatiently, waiting for a place to sit to present itself or for Kae to return. The road was wide enough that it could be crowded but still passable. The centre temples were the centre of all things, and they were built as such. She began to think to herself, but her attention was taken by a gathering crowd. She joined them, unable to fend off curiosity. 

It was nothing short of rare to see the gods in person. They spent their time elsewhere, though Nüe could not know where they could possibly be. In the holy places, perhaps. Perhaps they were not bound to the temple as the First were. 

She saw Earth and Fire as she pushed her way to the innermost part of the ring. The gods all had an aura about them, in time some of the First had learned to read them, but Nüe had not developed such a skill. Even so, she could tell that Fire was angry beyond what words could say. The gods were emotional things. They did not act like they had anything to hide. He spread his arms, fire rushing outwards from between them. Nüe stepped back with the rest of the crowd as they moved on instinct, away from that fearfully bright thing. 

Earth moved back as well, though she did not think he feared the flames. By magic, he lifted a tile from its place to serve as his shield, then sent it rushing forwards to Fire. He fell backwards into the crowd after stumbling a few places. The nearby First leapt backwards with one motion, though some had been standing too close and fell. 

Nüe didn't realise she was among the fallen until she was on the ground. She had fallen to a sitting position, propped up on her hands with straight arms. Her heart raced with the same nervous fear she had become familiar with during her nightmares. Her body was frozen upon the white tile, as it had been, though she could tell that her dreams had nothing to do with the present. 

Fire rose, perhaps he had said something. His movements were a little clumsy and mostly angry, but Nüe's gaze refused to settle on any one person. She looked back and forth from Fire to Earth back to Fire, then to the other First in the circle. The others who had fallen or stumbled away had regained their balance, but Nüe's body would not move. She could only watch. 

Another person joined the scene, pushing their way through the circle. It parted readily after they had passed. Nüe's gaze fell upon them and rested there. To stop her mind from wandering, she studied them. They were a stranger to her, though they were not one of the First. They must have been one of the gods. They wore white, as all the gods and most of the First did, and carried themself with grace. Nüe searched for words to describe them, but none came. She tore her mind apart in an effort to find words that she had never heard before, but the search came up empty. Graceful was the only word that she could come up with, but she knew that it was not quite right. They carried themselves as if they personified some kind of calm, an eerie peace, a foreboding omen of something fearful just beyond the edge of the temple. The calm before… before what? 

Their name was either Truneau or Cir. Storm or Ice. Fire and Earth already stood before her, and Nüe knew that Water was a woman. Through elimination, they could either be the god of the turbulent universe, or the god of the fearful cold. As she could not begin to find words to describe their appearance, she could not begin to make a guess as to their identity. 

They faced away from her, having a short conversation with Fire and Earth, after which Fire left with them. 

Nüe had not yet recovered her breath. She had not been conscious of her body the whole time, though she had not yet risen to her feet. The ring of First began to disperse, but she could not move with them. 

Earth stood before her, extending a hand to help her to her feet. When had he made his way to her? It did not matter. Nüe's mind raced. It was rare to see one of the gods, now one stood before her and she had been close to three. They all had an aura of something frightening and powerful and ancient, something untamed from a very long time ago. It made her mind race. Earth stood before her. Her eyes darted back and forth between his eyes and his outstretched hand. How dare he? He was one of the gods. One of the gods who never listened, one of the gods who did not care. 

Her thoughts rushed back to her, and she did not rise to take his hand. All of her thoughts rushed back to her in that moment, and she could no longer discern any individual words from them. She did not feel her thoughts anymore, she could only feel the anger they brought. She felt hatred. She hated… 

… Who did she hate? She could not hate the gods. They had given her life and purpose. Each of the First had been created by the gods, each with their own being and their own purpose, and Nüe could not have been an exception. The gods loved her, as they loved all of the First, as the First loved them, as Nüe loved them. 

No. 

Nüe hated the gods. Again, she chose to embrace the thought. Her little rebellion, her little prides, all of it had been because she hated the gods. She could not shy away from it anymore, and the way she had tried to suppress the thought made her sick. 

“I’m so sorry.” 

Nüe barely registered Kae’s voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kae come running from the side, setting her empty basket down and falling to a knee beside her. She felt one warm hand on her shoulder. 

“Come on, Nüe.” 

Nüe shook herself from her thoughts, taking Kae’s hand and standing up on shaking legs. Kae apologised a few more times before she lifted the empty basket with one hand and tugged at Nüe’s arm with the other to coax her into following her off of the road. As she left behind Kae, some calm returned to her mind. She began to think clearly, looking back at Earth every time his name crossed her mind. 

Kae led the way. Nüe followed in a daze. 

She had to repent. 

She did not hate the gods. She could not hate the gods. They were the makers of all things, and they were holy. To hate the gods was the highest form of sin. To disobey the gods was a terrible transgression, overshadowed only by acts of rebellion. Nüe’s little rebellions and her little prides were grave sin. She had known it all along, but it just now dawned upon her. She was a sinner, and she had to repent. 

She knew this, yet she felt no guilt. 

It was a strange feeling. Nüe almost wished for the guilt to wrench her gut and threaten to tear her mind into two, because she knew that feeling guilt might mean that she was still able to feel the same feelings as the other First. Perhaps if she had felt the same as the other First, she would believe that she was still worthy of the same love.

She could not choose to ignore this thought nor suppress it. She had to face it, and she had to face it where she stood. As she sank to the ground, she put her head in her hands. She had sinned, yet she felt no pain. Kae had taken a few paces without realising Nüe was not following, but quickly turned on her heel once she realised. She might have been speaking to her, but Nüe was deaf to the world. 

If guilt would not tear her apart, the battle within her mind might. She looked upwards to Kae’s innocent face which bore an expression of concern upon delicate features. She had the same kind of face as the rest of the First. It was the kind of face which could not sin, the kind of face which did not crease under a burden like Nüe’s. It was a face that Nüe would never see again in her mirror. 

No words passed between them, but Kae abandoned her basket to hold one of Nüe’s arms over her shoulders and hoist her to her feet. They began to walk together back the way they had come, Kae struggling for every step as Nüe was unable to help her. 

She wanted to carry her own weight, but her body would not allow it. She went nearly limp, almost crushing Kae as she fought to even remain upright beneath her weight. 

Kae called out to a face that was familiar to her, though Nüe had never sought him out on her own. She looked up weakly. Thin strands of black hair fell into her face, but she could not gather the air to blow them away. They fluttered in front of her mouth as she took weak, trembling breaths. The world in front of her became fuzzy and blurred as she stared through half-lidded eyes. Another First hurried to answer Kae’s call, discarding his own basket on the side of the path. 

Kae said something to him and he nodded. He replied, though Nüe could not focus on his words. Kae slipped Nüe’s arm off her shoulder, and the other First quickly picked her up before she could even begin to fall down. He was very tall and he could easily lift her with one arm around her back and the other cradling the bend in her knees. Her head fell against his chest and she closed her eyes. She got no comfort from him. 

He carried her and Kae ran beside him. He walked with long, smooth, strides and Nüe saw Kae struggle to keep pace. She continued to talk to Nüe, but she did not hear her. She did not look at Kae, she only saw her. The scene in front of her barely felt real. The only thing that was real was her mind, and the battle within it. 

Sin! Repent! You owe nothing to the gods! They are the makers of all things, and they love you. 

Would loving gods allow you to suffer so? 

Nüe squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, but her battle did not disappear in the darkness, nor did it disappear in sleep.

Nüe was a stranger to her surroundings. Instead of her familiar corridor, the landscape here was dyed in the colours of the deepest reaches of space where stars did not dare shine. She could not see her hands, even as she touched her own face, but she was painfully aware of her body. Her fingers twitched, and though it might have been an infinitesimally small movement, she felt it as if her entire body had been thrown about. She felt herself shift uncomfortably in the space, looking around for something she could neither feel nor see. 

A cold hand clenched around her ankle, colder than anything she had ever felt before in sleep or the waking world. It held her as if it could reach through her and hold her soul, freezing it solid and shattering it with the slightest touch. 

It pulled her downwards, pulling her forever through the blackness until something else reached out to grab her arm. The unfamiliar hand burned, hotter than any other touch Nüe had ever known. If there had been anything like it in Nüe’s waking hours, it would have burnt through her arm without mercy, until it made a fist and Nüe begged for release from the world of the living. 

The hands pulled in opposite directions, one up and one down and neither more merciful than the other. Nüe mourned the silence of the void as the hands began to call to her in a language she did not know. One sang and one screamed, and neither of them would allow her to follow the other. 

She awoke in panic, clutching her arm to her chest. All of her nightmares had felt nothing short of fearfully real, though this surpassed any of her previous dreams in all the painfully horrible ways it possibly could. 

Her familiar room was foreign to her, as if she had fallen asleep in one body and woken up as somebody else. How had she arrived in the bedroom? Why was she still dressed for her day? She stared around in a panic, her eyes seeing but not taking in any of the scenery. 

She drew her knees into her chest, folding over herself even though she wasn’t sure if her body was truly hers. She trembled, as if some invisible hand she could not feel was shaking her. The untouchable, unknowable hands pried her arms from the way the body hugged the knees, making her stare at them until she no longer recognised them. She studied the way the fingers bent and twisted strangely as the fist opened and closed. The skin wrinkled and folded and smoothed itself out, hiding veins and tendons until the hand moved just right. It was all strange and foreign now. 

The unknowable hand shook the body once again, pulling fat tears from the eyes and pushing the body back into a ball, making it as small as it could until Nüe thought the body would simply cease to be, crushed so small it vanished. She did not fear for its safety. She did not feel its pain. She sat in it silently. The cries that filled the room with the voice of the body did not come from her. It’s misery was not hers. She felt none of its agony. 

“You’re awake.” 

The body turned to allow Nüe a glance at who had spoken. A First girl sat by the far wall, rubbing her eyes as if she had been sleeping. She was dressed as if she had fallen asleep some time during the day when she had not meant to. She used the wall behind her as support as she stood. The girl raised a hand to cover a yawn as she made her way to the bedside in a few short steps. 

“How are you feeling?” She asked. She smiled, though Nüe could not feel it’s kindness. She looked at the stranger, the eyes looking at her from head to toe back to head. The girl’s expression changed, and Nüe could no longer read it. She looked at the body with something between concern and pity and fear. What was there to be afraid of? Nüe wanted to ask the question, but she could not make the body speak. 

“Nüe, please say something.” The girl begged. Nüe, yes, that was her name. What did it mean? She knew that was a word, but not much more. She did not remember what it meant. Maybe she had never known. Maybe the word did not mean anything yet. All the First had named themselves. They had been guided into some strange trance-like state and then they picked a name that meant something to their subconscious. What was the subconscious, anyways? “Please. Say anything.” 

“Who are you?” The body’s voice asked.

The girl’s face fell, her eyes going wide and her mouth falling open. 

“You’re kidding.” The girl said, covering her mouth with her hands as she fell to her knees beside the bed. What colour were her eyes? Nüe studied them, not quite sure whether they appeared more blue or more green. “What happened? Nüe, I’m scared.” 

Nüe got the feeling that she had seen this girl before, but she had never seen this expression on her face. 

“Who is this?” Nüe asked, the body making a fist in the thin, white sheets. “What is this?” 

“I don’t understand.” Kae said. “Don’t you know who you are?” 

“No.” Whose body was this?

“Nüe.” The girl choked on the word, like it was a curse. The body nodded. 

“Kae.” The body said in its voice, and Nüe made a note to herself to remember it. “What happened.” 

“That’s my question to you.” Kae said, a little relief creeping back into her expression, though her body still appeared tight and tense as she leaned forward onto the bed from her knees. Kae did not seem like the kind of person to hide her feelings. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” Nüe said. 

“No.”, said the body. 

Nüe would have liked to jump in startled surprise at the body’s words. She felt fine, even better than fine. She felt nothing. Kae wordlessly shook her head, pleading with her eyes for something that either Nüe or the body could not give her. 

It was all too strange. 

“I’m going to talk to Creation.” The girl said firmly, standing up straight. 

“Don’t!” Nüe screamed, making the girl flinch. She jumped forward, grabbing the girl and pulling her back. The body moved too slowly for her, only managing to reach out and brush her dress with the fingertips. 

“I don’t know what else to do!” Kae exclaimed, throwing her arms up in frustration. “I’m scared, Nüe!” 

“Stay,” the body whispered. “Just a while.” 

“Only if you promise to talk to me.”

“I will,” said the body. “I just don’t know where to start. How long have I been out?” 

“I don’t remember.” Kae said, her smile showing a tinge of embarrassment. “I think I fell asleep, too.” She carefully knelt back down by the bedside, crossing her arms gently and resting them together. She sat lightly, as if she weighed nothing and would crumple under the slightest weight. The body held the burden of its thoughts, and Nüe knew that even though Kae wanted to take a piece of it away to hold herself, she would never be able to do it. 

The body smiled weakly. 

“Rá carried you here. Do you remember that?” 

“Vaguely.” Nüe and the body said in unison. She was able to recall that, but not much more. 

“We couldn’t wake you up after that. You were really asleep.” 

“I had a really strange dream.” The body admitted, touching one hand to its forehead and dragging its fingertips to its cheek. Kae’s innocent eyes widened, wordlessly prompting her onwards. “I can’t tell what it means.” 

“Oh! You were talking in your sleep.” Kae said, nearly interrupting the body before it had finished speaking. The body returned the wide-eyed gesture Kae had given. “I couldn’t catch much. You kept repeating… ‘Sin. Repent.’.” 

“I did?” The body’s cheeks burned hot and red. 

“It was really quiet. I’m not sure if I heard it right.” Kae admitted. “I hope I didn’t.” 

She leaned closer to the body as if she was finally spilling some terrible secret.

“Is it something you did?” Kae asked, her smile vanishing ever so slightly. She wanted to put on a brave face, Nüe could tell, but Kae was not somebody who could easily put on a mask. Kae did not want a share in the body’s burden. “You can say it. I don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want me to.” 

“You would offer to sin for me?” Nüe asked, though the body’s lips would not move with hers. “I can’t tell you. I can’t make you a sinner, too.” 

The body’s burden was its burden to bear alone. 

“I’m not sure.” The body said carefully. “It doesn’t feel like a sin.” 

“I’m not sure I understand.” Kae said. 

The body could spill the truth if it wanted to. Nüe knew that Kae would not betray her. Her fear lay in the volume of her crime, that if Kae shared in it then it would surely break her. It would break her, as it had broken Nüe. Nüe was no stronger than Kae, but Nüe would shoulder ten times her unfathomable burden in order to keep Kae safe for just a moment more. 

Nüe’s burden was hers to bear alone. 

Her burden. 

Feeling began to rush back to her, and she felt her clammy skin beneath her fingertips, on the hand still cradling her own tear-soaked cheeks. The insides of her thighs ached as she refused to let her knees fall open. Her hands, her body, her own thoughts, her own burden to bear, her own grievous sin, she felt it all once again. 

“I’m sorry, then.” Nüe said, in her own voice with her own body, everything moving in sync now. “I’m sorry, Kae. I have to do this myself.” 

“I want to understand.” Kae said. “I don’t, but I want to. Promise that you‘ll tell me someday? It doesn’t have to be soon. Whenever you’re ready.” 

Nüe did not want to lie to her friend.

“Someday.” 

Kae left her to rest, swearing upon her soul to speak nothing of their conversation. She was bound to the promise on her soul which was still pure. Nüe swore to herself to never allow the filth of her sin to tarnish Kae’s being, though she had nothing to swear upon to hold herself to the promise. She could no longer swear upon gods she did not believe in and she could not swear upon her dirty soul. Such a promise was not much more than an empty hope, but it was all Nüe could do with what she had left. 

Her rest was neither calming nor disturbed. For the first time in a very long time, she did not dream. At first, she feared sleep. She feared her nightmares, and that either of them would return to torture her again. She fought off sleep for as long as she could, but it eventually won her over and pulled her into its gentle embrace. They laid there for a very long time like lovers with nothing left to say to each other. 

Kae must have kept her word, because neither First nor god came to visit Nüe with the exception of Kae herself. Nüe did not have much to measure the time by, as the light of the temple never dimmed in any cyclic way, and she did not expect her bedroom to reflect the passage of time. She drifted in and out of sleep and in and out of thought. When she cried, she wished for nothing more than to be calm again, but when she felt nothing, she wished for nothing more than to cry again. When she was calm, she could not help but feel that all was wrong in her world, that she deserved no peace of mind and no moment of rest. 

Kae’s visits were often, and Nüe felt a pang of guilt whenever Kae knocked twice on the door to make herself known before letting herself in. She knew her friend found joy in her work, and she did not want to pry her away from it. 

“Here.” Kae had said, on one such visit. “I brought you something. I know you said you’d tell me what’s on your mind someday, but if you want to get it out before then… I like to write things down. It helps me with things. I thought it might help you, too.” 

She held out an empty journal and Nüe took it, the cover made of some rough cloth which was cool to the touch. She turned it over in her hands and thanked Kae for the gift, though it took a long time before she decided to write anything in it. 

“What kind of cloth is this?” Nüe asked, rubbing her hand on the strange texture of the journal’s cover. It was not woven, and it was not made of paper, nor was it stone or any other material that Nüe had seen before. 

“I’m not sure.” Kae admitted. “I have one like it, but I didn’t quite think about it like that before.” 

“Where did you get it?” 

“I can’t remember.” Kae furrowed her brow, deep in memory. “Rá gave them to me, and he never said where he got them. I could ask.” 

Nüe declined the offer, adding another small mystery to the pile of questions already plaguing her waking mind. 

Nothing existed in that room to define the time by, so Nüe only knew that it had been a while since she had received the gifted journal. She opened it to the first of many clean pages, all made of something they called paper. It came from the gods, but it was cut and bound by the hands of the First. They were no stranger to writing and drawing on the clean white pages, but the material of the cover was still strange to Nüe. It was brown and its texture was unlike anything she had ever seen in her limited travels of the temple. The journal did not open silently, and the gentle crackle the spine made was the first thing that Nüe had heard in a long time that was neither a voice nor Kae’s now-familiar knock. 

She never denied Kae’s visits. 

Kae did not do much except to keep her company, and for that Nüe was eternally grateful. She did not want to leave this room, yet she did not wish to be alone in it. She filled the room with her presence and the sound of her being. She often brought her own things to do, as she sat in the corner by the bathroom door. 

She sat in her usual spot with her things laid out in front of her. She had brought one of her own dresses and a bag, and the bag had been opened and the contents in a small circle just within her reach. Within the bag had been a hoop, a needle, and threads in as many colours as First could create. With these things, she sewed some kind of pretty design upon the skirt. She sang softly to herself as she worked. Her stitches were calm and practiced and even. Every so often, she would pause her work and her song to adjust the skirt in the hoop. 

Nüe recognised the tune of the song, though she did not know the words. It had been the same song Kae had sung to herself many times as she worked, though Nüe had not heard the words to it before. 

“Have there always been words to that?” She asked. Kae looked up, stopping her song and her work. 

“Yes, but I just learned them.” Kae said. “It’s Creation’s song. She sings it to herself while she works, and I learned it from her.” 

“How does it go?”

Kae stopped briefly, searching her mind for the beginning of the song. 

She sang the song slowly, the tune soothing and calm as if it possessed magic of its own. Nüe listened. Though it had come from Creation, in that moment it came from her friend. She sat up and listened to the beautiful sound. 

“Aanj go 

Den amue et aiz 

Azu unanni 

Et ukki et khron

Wentei go 

Afue et vra 

Tes de menne 

Tes de kae 

Wen de amuer 

Tes de pappil 

Acumude fyr 

Et hea”

The song’s spell held Nüe for a moment after it ended, the sound leaving her slowly as if it was an old friend saying a final goodbye. She ached to hear it again. 

“What do the words mean?” She asked. They had not been like anything Nüe recognised. Kae shook her head. She did not know. She had sung in a language that neither of them spoke. It was the language that Creation spoke, an ancient language, the first lost language of the gods. Perhaps the words had been holy. Perhaps the words had indeed been magical. She ached to know their meaning, though she knew she never would. 

Before she had left, Kae had set pens to write with by the side of her bed in a recent visit. Nüe selected one without any particular preference, moving her pillows to comfortably sit with her back against the pillows against the headboard, pushed against the white walls that Nüe was growing to hate. She felt like she was drowning in the room, but she did not want to work so there was no reason for her to venture outside. 

The pen rested unnaturally in her hand. While Nüe used to love nothing more than thinking, she had never been one to write down her thoughts. Her thoughts had remained within her head and lived there for no one and nothing else to see. The pen trembled as she made her first unpracticed stroke upon the first page. The second stroke did not come any more naturally. She slowly drew a second rune next to it, though if she had stumbled across it in reading she would not recognise it. The final rune was no easier than the first two, but after that she had signed her name. 

She flipped the page over. The pages were thick enough that the ink would not bleed through even if she pressed as slow and hard into the paper as she did. Her writing was sloppy and unpracticed and she could barely write in a straight line, but she forced herself to write something. Kae had gifted her the journal, after all, and it would be rude to let it remain unused by her bedside. 

At first, nothing came to mind. Even after all her time alone with her thoughts, she did not know where to begin to think about them. They remained a tangled mess like unkempt vines, only growing thicker with time until they were an impenetrable hedge. 

She placed the pen to her side carefully, as to not stain her bedsheets, taking a few breaths with a clear mind. Once she picked up the pen again, she carefully wrote a question at the top of the page. 

What do you owe the gods? 

She began with that question, the question which had started it all. Those words were written in the dark-coloured ink, and Nüe could not erase them or go back on that thought. She tapped the end of her pen against her lip, clearing her mind before writing anything else. She intended to answer the question and fill the pages until she did. 

She set the pen to the paper and began to write, and she did not pause except to turn the pages. She wrote, and she did not stop. After some time and many pages of messy handwriting, she no longer thought for her words. One question sparked another, and she wrote to answer them all. She simply wrote her thoughts as they came, pouring them out onto paper, blackening the beautiful white pages with her sin. 

What do you owe the gods? 

She did not know the answer, only that it would not please them. As she wrote, she stumbled across words that her pen choked on. She needed words that had never been spoken before, words that had not needed to be spoken before. These words did not stop her, and she pushed forward even though the strange new words made no sense to her. 

Every word brought her closer to an answer, but she never fully grasped it. It was as if it dangled just out of reach, something else chaining Nüe back just close enough so that she could strain and fight and reach out but only ever brush it with her ink-stained fingertips. She attacked it from every angle, searching for another way to grasp the answer to her question every time it escaped her, but it was as elusive as she could be clever. She knew the answer would be simple, perhaps just a few words. Perhaps they were words that Nüe knew or perhaps they were words that no First had spoken before, they escaped her nonetheless. Every time she made an advance, the answer retreated. Every time she backed it into a corner, it slipped out by just a hair. 

Kae continued to visit her. Nüe learned to quickly close the journal and set it to the side when she heard her friend knock. The first time, Kae had smiled proudly as she snuck a glance to the journal, which had just begun to start filling. She did not ask any questions, and for that, Nüe would be eternally grateful. The more she wrote, the more taboo it felt to think about sin outside of the time she spent writing. Even so, she had promised Kae that she would discuss it someday. 

“You should go outside.” Kae said. “If you feel up to it.”

How Nüe missed the sky! 

Kae had selected clothes for her, standing patiently outside the bathroom door and knocking just as Nüe had begun to zone out as she stood in the shower. The sound had jolted her back to her senses, and she quickly finished her shower. She hadn’t noticed how dirty she had been until she stepped out of the shower and dried herself. She had stretched, her joints popping as she stood up straight for the first time in a long time. 

She had hid her journal in a drawer before she left, anxious that somebody would mistakenly walk into her home and decide to read it while she left. Her anxiety had mounted as she slowly made her way through her and her housemate’s shared living spaces, until she had made Kae wait as she turned back in a hurry to hide it. Though she knew that no First would even know to look for it, the feeling discarded rationality and persisted. 

Her anxieties were forgotten the moment she stepped foot outside the house. 

Compared to her ceiling, space was painfully dark and deeper than every before, and she truly realised that it stretched forever in every direction for the first time. Compared to her walls, the temple was endless. Compared to the pathetic sound of pen on paper in lonely silence, the temple buzzed with life that Nüe had forgotten was possible. It was like she had stepped into the world for the very first time, everything too new and too bright as she took it all in.

“What is that?” Nüe asked, not meaning to say the words out loud, but the state of her wonder made her body speak on its own. 

Just beyond the temple, almost hidden beneath it, lay another thing that Nüe had never noticed before. Kae followed her gaze and they both stared at the thing for a long time. 

“I think that’s the Earth.” Kae said slowly. “I didn’t know you could see it from here.”

The thing was blue and green and massive, it must have been hundreds of times larger than the temple. Nüe frowned. She was looking at it from a distance, so it must be even larger on the surface than it appeared. In her mind, the word ‘massive’ failed to describe it. She could not accept it as just ‘massive’. It was the largest thing she had ever seen, covered in blue and green and white, peacefully sitting far beneath them. What was it? It shared the name of one of the gods. Nüe scowled at the name. 

“Earth?” Her body asked on its own. 

“The god Earth’s domain.” Kae answered. “It’s what the gods have been working on. It’s what we helped them build.” She beamed proudly, as if she had created the Earth herself by the power of her own two hands.

“Is it for us?” Nüe asked. Such a place, it had to be. If they had made it, then it should belong to them, to be theirs to live upon if that was its purpose. Perhaps it would be a home for them, like the temple had been for as long as any of the First could remember. 

“No.” Kae said. “It’s for the human race.” 

Nüe’s heart sank. 

“Human race?” She asked. Who could deserve the Earth more than those who had built it? Outrage filled her words and she dug her nails painfully into her palm until she was next to certain that she had torn open her skin. 

“They were created by the gods to inherit the Earth.” 

“Why?” Nüe asked. “We deserve the Earth.” 

“It was not the will of the gods.” Kae shook her head, though she still smiled proudly. 

“We made it.” Nüe insisted. “What did they do to deserve it?” Her voice came out as a low, frightening hiss. 

“They were created.” Kae said. “That is enough.”

“But we were, too.” 

“We can’t understand the gods. We can just serve them.” Kae said, brushing off the question. “Isn’t that enough?”

“Not for me.” Nüe said, prying her gaze away from the Earth. She forced her hands to release themselves from their fists. Angry red marks cut deeply into her hand where her fingernails had pierced the skin. Blood welled up where they were the deepest, beading and mixing with sweat to drip down her fingers. 

“You’re bleeding!” Kae exclaimed, as if Nüe had not noticed. 

“Come on.” Nüe said. 

Something possessed her to run without looking back. She heard Kae scramble to follow after she had made it a short distance. Kae called for her to wait, but she could not stop moving. Both her and Kae’s footsteps were heavy upon the white marble. 

She paused when the streets grew crowded, and Kae finally caught her. Breathless, Kae tried to ask her something, but her breathy voice came in time with her irregular gasps and Nüe could not understand her words. 

They moved quickly through the crowd. Nüe led the way and Kae followed her, asking her question as she recovered enough to speak. 

“Where are we going?” She called over the clamour of the crowd. Nüe did not answer, continuing to fight her way forward through the crowded street. “Nüe!” 

Kae did not threaten to leave Nüe, nor did she wordlessly leave her side. She followed her until the pair stood before that familiar arch at the centre of the temple. No guard stood by the door to stop them. Neither Kae nor Nüe were doing work or had any business within the most holy of spaces. 

“Here.” Nüe said. She told herself that fear was not the reason her heart raced. There should be nothing to be afraid of. Her actions meant nothing and they were not wrong. She was not wrong to act as she pleased. 

She recognised the scene from her dreams, except instead of an endless corridor, she stood before the temple centre and she could see the other side. She laughed as she took that first step across the threshold of the gods’ most sacred of spaces. It pained her, some invisible hand held her back, and the single step could have lasted an eternity for all Nüe knew. She could only know that at the end of it all, she had trespassed upon a place holy to gods she no longer believed in. 

“What are you doing?” Kae exclaimed, jumping across the line in a futile attempt to pull Nüe back to the other side and to her senses. “Nüe, we can’t be here!” 

“I’m just passing through.” 

Kae clung tightly to Nüe’s arm as they trespassed upon that silent place. The gods were not home at the moment. Nüe grinned mischievously, like a child who had placed a pitcher of water upon an ajar door, though she knew that this crime was more horrible than any crime ever committed by another First. Her crime rivalled that of the gods.

Kae’s grip was firm and scared, though her touch was still soft. Her hands were rough from her life of work, but she did not dig into Nüe’s arm with her nails. The pads of her fingers did not pierce Nüe’s skin as they crept together across the plaza. 

The temple of Creation loomed before them, larger than any humble home a First enjoyed living in, dwarfing both Kae and Nüe. It stretched forever upwards into space and forever ahead in front of them. The temples here were unfathomably pure, and the volume of their holiness made it pointless to compare them. Nüe did not intend to tarnish their polished surfaces. She had said that she was only passing through, and she intended to hold herself to that. She was angry at the gods, but she had no reason to desire to tear them down. 

The temple of Creation loomed before her, and she did not have to think twice before she entered. 

Kae followed her inside, loyal to the end. Nüe could only think of herself now, however much she might have wished to tell Kae to save herself and return home, to forget about this sin and to forget about Nüe. 

Within the temple were housed mysterious objects and creations that Nüe had no time to explore. She did not know what she was looking for, she only knew that if it existed, Creation would be the one to possess it. She did not know what it would look like, nor where it would be, but she felt certain that she would recognise it as soon as it presented itself to her. 

Beside her, Kae shut her eyes and followed Nüe blindly through the temple. 

The item she was looking for presented itself soon enough. It had an aura, as the gods did, and her mind began to race as if she was in the presence of Darkness himself. His aura was the most mysterious and the most ancient. She had no time to think about the gods, though. The thing in front of her was a door. It filled the room with a blue light, though shadows still clung to the walls like weeds in an abandoned garden. 

She expected the door to be made of immovable stone, completely inaccessible without divine intervention, but the door swung open. It opened into a downwards staircase, and Nüe could get a glimpse of the bottom. No torches lit the staircase as it plunged downwards into shadow. 

Without a second thought, Nüe stepped through the doorway, Kae still on her arm. She did not know where the staircase would end. She had no knowledge of Creation’s temple, but she did have that gut feeling that she was quickly learning to trust. 

The stone stairs descended into shadow, but the darkness created the illusion that it was far longer than it truly was. The hall levelled itself off, and the pair hurried through the shadows. As they walked, they could begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. They made their way towards the light as Nüe brushed her free hand against the cool, rough stone. The stone was completely smooth, no cracks ran through it and there were no engravings upon it. Furthermore, the stone seemed to be one continuous piece and there were no breaks where two stones had been connected. 

The strange hall, like the dark stairs, was deceptively short. Beyond it lay a kind of room that Nüe had never seen before. It had neither floor nor walls nor roof, though the temple lay above and the Earth lay below. Nüe had seen a lake before, there was a large one that she used to visit often to think. Upon that lake had been a pier, and there had been small vessels tied with rope to the end. In this strange place was a pier, though there was no water. The pier stretched out over the empty space, with a singular vessel remaining in it. There was space for another, and Nüe knew that it had to be the way down to the planet. The gods must have taken the other vessel, and the gods must have been upon the planet. 

“Where are we going?” Kae asked as Nüe pulled her to the end of the pier. 

“You don’t have to come with.” Nüe said, pulling the vessel towards her by the rough, twisted rope. She reached out to grab its side, pulling it the rest of the way towards her. Her balance lay upon the edge of a blade, if there had been a breeze in this place, it might have pushed her into empty space. She carefully entered the thin, white-painted vessel. Left foot, then right. 

She struggled with the rope that held the vessel to the pier. In the lake within the temple, there had only been a few small vessels. They had been small, though this vessel was nothing luxurious. It was meant for travel, nothing more. The lake-vessels had only fit one or two people, though this one was bigger. It did not matter to Nüe, as she intended to sail in it alone. Her hands could not get a hold upon the rope. It was thick and tied impossibly tight. Kae watched her, and Nüe could feel her burning gaze. 

Eventually, though, Nüe undid the rope enough to pull it apart. For a moment, she was the only thing holding herself to the temple, and she did not want to hesitate. 

“I’m coming with you!” Kae exclaimed, her brave words filled with fear. Nüe hesitated then, and Kae reached across the void beneath them to pull herself into the vessel as well as she did. Nüe wanted to cry out to tell her to stay back, go home, be careful. 

“Why?” Nüe exclaimed, letting go of the rope. The vessel moved quickly away, and when she gathered her wits enough to decide to lunge desperately for the rope, distance was already too great to have any starving sliver of hope to reach it. “Kae, why?” 

“I don’t know.” Kae said quickly. “I don’t know where you’re going, but you’re not going alone!” 

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“But I did.” 

“Yes. That’s the problem.” Nüe gathered the trailing rope into a circle, placing it on the floor of the vessel. She tilted her head to the side, peering around Kae as they settled onto two of the four benches. Kae faced backwards towards the temple behind them, and Nüe sat looking forwards. There were no holes in the vessel for oars or anything to steer with. The vessel cut through space with a direction of its own. In front of them was the planet, growing larger and larger every second though it was still a great distance away.

“You could have saved yourself.” Nüe murmured. 

“Then who’ll save you?” Kae said, putting on a brave face for her. Or, perhaps she put on a brave face for herself, but either way, she smiled at Nüe with determination. “I’m doing this because I want to, and you can’t stop me.”

Kae could not grasp the volume of Nüe’s sin. She was still trying to take a bit of the burden for her. That had not changed. 

Nüe could not return her brave expression, nor her brave words. She said nothing to her friend, and watched the Earth grow larger and larger until it filled her vision. The vessel moved slowly and docked itself in a pier rather identical to the one in the temple, though this pier stretched over a lake like nothing Nüe had ever seen before. 

This lake stretched forever towards its vanishing point and its water rolled gently up and down. It was the blue-green of Kae’s inquisitive eyes, and Nüe could not see the bottom. It stretched onwards to the left and right as well. Perhaps this lake alone was larger than the entire temple. 

Kae and Nüe had worked together to tie the vessel to the pier. Kae had noticed a vessel identical to it tied to the pier as well, and Nüe knew that they had to move quickly. 

As soon as they left the pier, they began to run. The gods had to be here, and the gods could not know that Kae and Nüe had stolen their vessel and ventured to the Earth without their permission. Nüe did not desire the approval of the gods, but that would not make their punishments any less real. 

A benevolent god would not allow you to suffer so. The gods are not all-loving. You suffer at the will of the gods, and you may suffer by the hands of the gods as well. 

The Earth lay before them, bigger and brighter and larger than either Kae or Nüe could have ever imagined. Strange vines grew, stretching like outstretched arms towards the temple above, as if the Earth itself yearned to feel the temple on its fingertips. From here, however, the temple could not be seen. It had disappeared into the sky, and Nüe could almost forget that it existed when such wonders as the Earth possessed took her interest captive. 

Though the wonders of a new world lay bountiful and ready in front of them, Nüe knew that they had to hide. If the gods discovered them, they would not be merciful. She had to think for Kae as well, as her friend had not yet learned to think in this way. Nüe shouldered this burden as well. Kae had not stopped sacrificing for Nüe, and Nüe would do the same for Kae. After all, they were stuck together in this strange place, they would have to stay together. 

It was for more than survival. Neither of them could know what would happen to them if the gods wished to punish them. It would be a fate worse than ceasing to live. Perhaps it would be worse than living. 

They ran away from the giant lake’s edge and away from the white stone buildings erected a short distance away. Those buildings resembled the temple, the very thing they had to get away from. To the opposite direction lay a maze of the strange vines that reached towards the sky, and Nüe chose to run for those instead. 

The vines were not soft. They made bumps and ridges in the springy dirt below, threatening to trip Nüe with every clumsy, unpracticed step. The vines reached out towards each other as they had reached towards the sky, thick and brown and sharp enough to cut Nüe. Still, the ran onwards to where the vines thickened enough to block out the sun, away from the pier, hopefully out of the sight of the gods, and Kae followed her the whole time even though Nüe was certain that Kae did not know her intentions. 

Some time passed and the sky began to grow dark. It was as if the planet was covered by a dome, across which white clouds floated and a blue sky obscured the stars. The cloud-dome rolled back, revealing the stars though the light fled the Earth and left it as dark as the expanse of space. 

Nüe and Kae did not move in the darkness. Neither of them could see and the Earth was unfamiliar to them. By day it had been much more wondrous, by night, it became a fearful place. 

Sounds lurked just beyond her vision, some rhythmic as a bubbling creek, though others were low and stopped after one breath. The vines swayed in the breeze. It chilled Nüe to the bone. Kae’s body was warm beside her. She had begun to doze off a long time ago, just as they had sat down together, and slept fast asleep against Nüe. 

Nüe herself could not find sleep, though it found her and pulled her close against both her will and her better judgement. 

In her dream, Nüe was not running. She was walking slowly through the giant vines as they tangled between her unclothed legs. The dirt was dark and moist and soft on her bare feet. She took slow steps through white mist. She wandered forever like that through the haze, winding around the thick bases of the vines as the mist thickened. It was cool and wet but she did not feel cold. Vines reached out to her, ensnaring her arms or legs or neck if she stayed in one place for too long, but she did not stop moving and they fell away like the hands of dying men. 

Dying. 

Nüe did not know what that word meant. 

She continued to wander through the forest and the mist continued to thicken. It surrounded her like flowing white robes though her body was naked save for the fog. The vines began to grow sparsely, thinner and farther between. Soon, their hands could not reach her and she walked freely forward and emerged from the forest. 

She emerged from the forest into the light of the waking day. 

Kae still dozed on her arm. Neither of them had let go during the night, but Kae let her friend fall to the ground as she stood up to stretch. The stars had vanished once again as the cloud-dome appeared to reclaim its position above the Earth. Nüe made a circle around the base of the vine, walking to make sure that she still could. In fear of becoming lost and unable to find her way back to the vine, she did not dare to stray more than a few paces in any direction. If she made one wrong turn, she would not be able to find this vine again among so many other vines that appeared nearly exactly identical. 

She sat beside Kae and let her friend wake up on her own. 


End file.
